First Comes Love, Then Comes Marriage
by Joeygirl1994
Summary: Victoire and Teddy are getting married in three months and there is a LOT to get done before then. They have the help of family and friends as they juggle wedding planning, full time careers, house hunting, and the inevitable surprises that pop up in life every time they foolishly think they have a firm control on reality. Life loves to throw a curve-quaffle every chance it gets.
1. A New Addition

**A/N:** Here's the new Teddy/Vic story! Enjoy everyone!

**Note:** If you read How To Adult, you will realize that this troy occurs a year and three months after the last chapter of that story.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Harry Potter.

* * *

**A New Addition**

**Tuesday, April 16th 2024**

**1:45 PM**

Victoire Weasley reached one of the healing stations in the Dark Arts Reversal ward at St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies just as her fellow healer Wesley Hall popped up from behind the counter, his arms full of files and a few books.

Thankfully, Victoire had gotten used to the usual quietness of Wesley's cat-like movements during the past two years that they had worked together, so his sudden appearance in front of her didn't startle her as much as it would have, and probably should have.

"Are all of those for research on one of your patients?" Victoire asked Wesley curiously as she tried to quickly count how many files he had in his arms.

Healer Wesley Hall –tall and even more skinny looking lately than normal since his schedule at the hospital had been so hectic recently– let out a slightly breathless laugh, "Merlin no. I kinda just knocked all of these onto the floor and I need to reorganize them before Healer Seward comes moseying along and realizes what I've accidentally done."

The twenty-three year old rolled her eyes at her colleague but bestowed a small smile on him, "I'd help you but I'm waiting on-"

"Mrs. Stoddard's lab reports?" Wesley finished for her as he glanced through the files in his arms.

"Yes," Victoire answered succinctly.

"They should be here somewhere," Wesley told her as he dropped his armload of files onto the counter of the healing station and began looking at the labels, "They were sent up only five minutes ago."

Victoire flicked her wrist to wandlessly _Accio_ the file to her but nothing moved, "That's weird."

She helped Wesley manually skim through all of the files on the counter, but none of them were the Stoddard file.

"I don't know where it could have gone to," Wesley mused when Victoire gave up checking the files for the third time in favour of pouting and crossing her arms over her chest.

"Did anyone else stop by the station in the last five minutes who might have picked it up by accident?" Victoire asked him with a tired sigh.

Wesley frowned in thought, but then he let out a groan of realization, "Fabius _did_ stop by just before you got here for like a millisecond-"

She didn't need to hear the rest of his statement. Victoire sent Wesley a quick wave good-bye before she strode down the D. A. R. ward's hallway towards the section of the ward that housed the Healers' offices. She stopped in front of a particular office door and rolled her eyes at a shiny brass plate that read '_Healer M. Fabius_'. Her friend and fellow healer Cassidy Hopewell had sworn to Victoire that she had caught him obsessively polishing it one evening when they were both stuck in the ward on a particularly dead nightshift, and from that night on Cassidy was convinced that their pompous colleague was shining his name plate at least every other day.

Almost a year and a half ago when Victoire and her fellow healing residents had completed their residencies, the four healers were told that there would be two full-time healer positions opening up in the D. A. R. ward that they were being considered for. Malachi Fabius and Victoire Weasley won the full-time healing positions because they were the best (Victoire was the best healer, and in her opinion Fabius was the best at sucking up) while their fellow colleagues Wesley Hall and Cassidy Hopewell were given part-time healing positions in the D. A. R. ward. Luckily the latter two healers had also received part time offers from other wards in the hospital since they had both chosen to complete dual residency placements (Victoire had foregone choosing a second residency placement in favour of doing a large research project), so both of the healers had more than enough hours to keep them busy at St. Mungo's, even if they didn't have 'full time jobs' in the D. A. R. ward.

Victoire rapped her knuckles on the glossy wood of her least favourite colleague's office door, causing a brisk knocking noise to emanate from where her hand had touched the hard wood. She waited a few seconds for a response, and when she didn't receive one she knocked again, much harder and much more rapidly than she had before.

Her actions received a response this time, in the form of someone within the office clearly calling out the word "_Come_". She paused in her knocking, let out an agitated huff of air, and then chose to ignore the words in favour for continuing to knock on the door.

A moment later the wood of the door disappeared from under her knuckles as the office door was opened by the grimacing face of her fellow Dark Arts Reversal healer Malachi Fabius. He was only a few inches taller than her five-foot-eight height, but he usually seemed smaller because he always wore his green healing robes at least one size too big. The robes were baggy on him and made him seem like he was being perpetually hit by some sort of shrinking spell just prior to every encounter she had with him.

Fabius openly glared at his blonde colleague, "I said that you could come in."

"Really?" Victoire asked with a faux innocent tone as she stepped around him and into his office, "I didn't hear you. Oh well, it's nice to see you opening the door for me like a gentleman. After all, it's never too late to start treating people with common courtesy."

She walked over to the part of the room that held Fabius's desk and stood in front of it. There were two chairs situated across from the large desk, but she forewent sitting in either of them because she didn't plan to be there long. Fabius shut the door behind her and moved to sit down in the comfortable chair behind his desk.

"What can I do for you _Healer Weasley_?" Fabius asked her. His tone full of sarcastic faux-graciousness after her quip about him not be polite.

Victoire crossed her arms over her chest, "Mrs. Stoddard's lab results?"

Fabius grabbed a file that was lying on top of the left side of his desk without even looking at it and he tossed it in her direction.

"Here."

She caught it easily –her seeker skills from her Hogwarts quidditch playing days continuing to come in handy even though she hardly ever played anymore– and she opened the file to skim the results of her patient's labs.

"Mrs. Stoddard's blood oxygen levels are back to an acceptable level," Victoire murmured as she read.

Fabius shrugged, picked a quill up from his desk, and began fiddling with it, "Are they? I didn't have time to read the results before you came knocking."

Victoire closed the file, turned her back on Fabius, and started to walk towards the door. She called over her shoulder to her colleague as she went, "Do you want to come with me to give Mrs. Stoddard the good news?"

"I'd love to," Fabius's bland voice replied, "But I'm afraid that I can't. I've already released her."

Victoire spun back around on her heel, causing her long, silvery blond hair to fan out around her head with the quick motion.

"You _what?_"

Fabius had known Victoire long enough to know that her tone implied that he should be wary of what he might say to her next.

"I ran a discharge examination on my patient at her request and found that she was healthy enough to be allowed to leave," Fabius explained.

She narrowed her ocean-blue eyes at him, "You discharged _our_ patient without my permission? And I am using the word 'our' very loosely here since you've spent a total of half an hour treating her compared to my total of seven hours."

"She'd been here for almost two days already, she wanted to go, she was healthy enough to go, she left," Fabius replied with a shrug.

Victoire clenched her teeth together, "How long ago was this? I did rounds less than an hour ago."

"It was about twenty minutes ago," Her fellow healer admitted.

She scoffed at him, "You knew that her lab results were due within a half hour and you _still_ discharged her twenty minutes ago? If you had made her wait just fifteen more minutes we would have been able to know _for sure_ that her blood oxygen levels were fine and then _we_ could have discharged her with a clear conscience."

"I figured the results would be fine considering all of her other progress," Fabius replied with a careless shrug, "And she really, really wanted to go home. Said something about a dinner with her girlfriends tonight that she'd rather not miss. Mrs. Stoddard promised to come back in if I found something worrying on her test results."

"Even if you're ninety-nine percent sure that there's nothing wrong you can't just discharge a patient while we're still waiting on that kind of lab result, and without the primary healer on the case –a.k.a. me– signing off on her discharge paperwork. I can't believe that you did that," Victoire told him her expression one of disbelief, "I mean I really can't believe it. You're normally suck a stickler for the rules, but this time you decided to break some really important ones. Did you even consider what the hospital-"

Fabius was tired of her lecturing by this point. He thought it absolutely ridiculous that Victoire Weasley of all people was reprimanding him about not following protocol when she had been called in front of St. Mungo's Board of Ethics much more often than he had, "I made a calculated decision, which may just end up being a good thing for the hospital. Mrs. Stoddard was so happy that I discharged her early that she mentioned that she's now thinking about making a sizeable monetary donation to the hospital."

Victoire glowered at him, "You can't just do whatever patients _want_ just because they offer to donate money. You need to treat every patient the same no matter their annual income or position in society, and you need to _treat_ all of the patients properly before discharge-"

Her complaint was cut off by the sound of someone knocking on the office door. It creaked opened slowly a few seconds later and Healer Wesley Hall poked his head into the office.

Wesley looked straight at Victoire, "Vic, I just spotted a medi-witch directing a prospective patient to your office."

Victoire frowned, "My last patient consultation today was this morning at ten, I don't have any more appointments booked."

"It didn't seem like this one was pre-booked," Wesley explained.

She sighed, "Thanks for letting me know Wesley, I'll be there in a-"

"The patient looked like Auror Donaldson," Wesley added when he realized that he hadn't yet told her that vital piece of information.

That captured all of Victoire's attention, "Did she look like she was injured?"

"Not outwardly," Wesley told her.

Victoire left herself feel a bit of relief, but she was still concerned about Auror Donaldson. More concerned than she was about the relatively healthy patient/socialite that Fabius had discharged without discussing with her first. She readjusted her hold on Mrs. Stoddard's file, sent Fabius a parting glare, and then strode out of the office.

She only had to walk a few metres down the hall until she made it to another office door, this one adorned with a less shiny name plate (she didn't have time to waste on polishing it) that read '_Healer V. Weasley_'. Her office was slightly smaller than Fabius's –he had taken over Healer Seward's old office when Healer Seward upgraded to Healer Rhee's much larger office upon the latter healer's retirement– but it had a nicer view of the outside which let in more natural light and vitamin D than the fake magical windows that decorated the other offices.

Victoire pushed open the door and found a familiar woman sitting down at one of the chairs across from her desk. She shut the door behind her, the sound causing the woman in the chair to jump in her seat. Auror Donaldson, a close colleague and partner of Teddy's at the Auror Department that both she and her fiancée considered a good friend, quickly got to her feet when she heard the door shut. The medium height woman, who looked like she must have come from work as she was still wearing her dark red auror robes, spun around to face Victoire.

That action set into motion a chain reaction of events.

Auror Jillianna Donaldson opened her mouth to say something to Victoire, but before she could she brought her hand to her forehead and her knees started to wobble like she was about to collapse. Auror Donaldson reached out to steady herself with a hand on the back of the chair she had vacated, while Victoire sprinted to her side and placed one hand on the woman's shoulder and the other on her hip to steady her further. Victoire encouraged Auror Donaldson to sit back down in her chair, and when she was stable in her seat, Victoire leaned back on the edge of her desk in front of Auror Donaldson and eyed the other woman minutely.

"Did you sign in at the front desk already? Usually they give you intake forms to fill out when it doesn't seem like a life-threatening emergency . . ." Victoire babbled as she did a visual examination of the auror. Besides the other woman's face going white a minute ago and looking like she was going to faint, she visibly _seemed_ fine.

Auror Donaldson shook her head slowly, "No, I didn't sign in at the front desk. I'm not–I'm not exactly here as a patient."

"So you haven't been recently injured or cursed?" Victoire asked methodically. She forewent asking questions about the auror that she already knew such as the woman's age, emergency contacts, and medical history.

"No."

Victoire pursed her lips, "Are you quite sure Auror Donaldson? You seemed like you were going to faint a minute ago-"

"No, no," The other woman cut off her concern, "I was just a little lightheaded from my sudden movement. And please Victoire, call me Jilly, this isn't exactly a work official visit."

"Alright Jilly, then what can I do for you?" Victoire asked as she moved off her desk.

She pulled her green healing robes off –they got heavy and very warm after wearing them for a while– and tossed them onto a small loveseat that was off in the corner of the room. She was wearing a pair of navy blue dress trousers and a pretty ruffled beige blouse underneath her robes so she still looked professional after having discarded them. She knew her air of professionalism was more of a matter of habit than anything else, Jilly knew her well enough to know that outside of work she was usually much more casual in her clothing choices.

Jilly paused a moment before she figured out what she wanted to say, "I–this _is_ about my health, but I don't think it's something particularly _bad_. I just need you to run a test on me."

Victoire sat down in the chair beside the one Jilly was sitting in. She pursed her lips, "What kind of test?"

"I think I may need you to run a pregnancy test on me."

Victoire blinked and it took a full two seconds before her brain finally kicked into 'healer mode', "When was your last menstrual cycle?"

Jilly bit her lip and self-consciously looked at her hands, "It may have been over three months ago."

"Uh," Victoire paused for a minute to absorb this surprising information, "Okay . . . do you normally have a pretty consistent cycle?"

"Sometimes?" Jilly replied apprehensively, "When my eating disorder was at its worst I stopped menstruating for several months in a row until I got healthier and gained more weight. I've been menstruating pretty regularly since then, but I do miss a period here and there. I've never gone more than two months without one though."

Victoire pursed her lips, "Did you see a healer after you missed your second period?"

Jilly shook her head remorsefully, "No I thought that this month was the second time I missed a period, but when I started thinking about it I realized that I didn't get one in February either. The month just went by so fast and it was so busy that I didn't notice it and-"

"Hey, it's fine Jilly," Victoire told her reaching out to give her arm a comforting squeeze, "February _does_ go by quickly. I have a couple more questions for you before I cast a pregnancy test. Okay?"

The other woman nodded her head. Even though she was the one to suggest that she was pregnant, she seemed as though she wanted to wait just a little bit longer until she heard a confirmation of her theory.

"Were you sexually active after your last complete menstrual cycle?"

"Yes."

"Have you been sexually active during the past few months when you haven't been menstruating?"

"Yes."

Victoire took a deep breath before asking her next question, "Have you been actively preventing pregnancy?"

"Yes," Jilly replied with a fast nod of her head.

"What method were you using?"

Jilly blushed, "A contraception potion."

The blonde healer nodded her head, "Contraceptive potions are very effective, but statistically speaking about nine percent of women will become pregnant when using this method." She gave Jilly an encouraging smile, "Ready for the test?"

Jilly took a deep breath. She'd been a kick-arse auror for seven years already, but as she sat in front of Victoire and waited to hear if she was actually pregnant, she felt the most nervous and anxious that she had to date.

Another deep breath was necessary to steady her nerves and then she slowly nodded her head, "Go for it."

Victoire pulled out her wand –she was perfectly capable of casting the spell wandlessly, but she wanted to make sure that the test was as accurate as possible– and began the wrist movements to cast the spell wordlessly.

A line of bright light shot out of the tip of Victoire's wand, and flew toward Jilly. It barely touched Jilly's abdomen before bouncing right back towards Victoire, who waved her wand and absorbed the excess light.

"So?" Jilly asked anxiously before Victoire could tell her the results.

"You're pregnant," Victoire told her in a calm and neutral tone of voice, "If you weren't pregnant the light would have been absorbed by your body. It bounces off when a woman is pregnant."

Jilly looked down at her hands, they were shaking a little, "I–I don't know why I'm so surprised. I haven't had a period in three months. That should have been evidence enough."

"Have you been having any other symptoms of pregnancy? Nausea?"

"No."

"Unusual tiredness?"

"No."

"Breast tenderness?"

"No."

"Dizziness?"

Jilly nodded her head at that one, "Just a little over the past month when I stand up too quickly, but on its own I didn't realize that it was a symptom of pregnancy."

Victoire nodded her head and rolled the wooden handle of her wand around the palm of her hand, "Considering that you've gone so long without menstruating and the fact that your cycle isn't always regular, I think it might be good for me to cast a spell on you to see how far along the pregnancy is. It won't be as exact as a test an obstetric healer will try, but it'll give you a rough idea right now."

"Please," Jilly told her, the word coming out with a heavy exhale of air like a sigh.

Victoire cast another spell, and she pursed her lips when she saw the results, "Jilly, your pregnancy is about twelve weeks along." She did some mental math, "So you probably conceived in mid to late January . . . does that add up?"

She was asking the question because she knew that between Jilly's occupation as an auror and her boyfriend Caleb Cooke's job as a professor at Hogwarts, the couple didn't have as many opportunities to spend time together as most couples did.

"Yeah, that makes sense," Jilly replied with a sigh.

"So," Victoire began before clearing her throat, "You have some decisions to make about how you'd like to go about this."

Jilly took a deep breath.

"I can refer you to a gynecological/obstetric healer to make an appointment as soon as possible and get the ball rolling on a whole bunch of other tests that should be done . . . or I can refer you to another healer," She wasn't sure how she felt about offering the second choice to Jilly because she was in a committed relationship, but she also didn't want to automatically make the assumption that Jilly was going to go through with the pregnancy. She didn't want to _not _give her another option and then accidently alienate Jilly to her if she decided that she didn't want to become a mother at this point in her life.

"I–I need to tell Caleb about it of course," Jilly replied hesitantly, "But I can't imagine that I won't want i–the baby. A baby . . . _Merlin_ I'm having a baby."

While there was still disbelief in Jilly's voice, it seemed as though the edges of her lips were attempting to twist into a smile. When she saw this, Victoire encouraged Jilly with a soft smile.

"You're having a baby."

Hearing Victoire confirm the words once more –this time in a happier tone of voice– enabled the smile to break free across Jilly's face. She reached up to her face and put her hands on her cheeks. "I'm going to have a baby."

"In six months," Victoire added with a bit of a raised eyebrow as she saw the shocked realization flash across Jilly's face that the baby was going to be coming sooner rather than later, "So everything's going to happen really fast for the next little while."

Victoire went on to explain that she did need to make an appointment with an obstetric healer ASAP since she'd already gone so long in her pregnancy without knowing about it. Jilly said that she would like to have Caleb with her for her first appointment, which meant that she also needed to tell him ASAP. Luckily, she was actually scheduled to have dinner with Caleb that evening –Caleb had had their evening together planned for the past two weeks to make up for not being able to see her on her birthday three weeks ago– so she was going to be able to tell him that night about her pregnancy, and hopefully he could get half of the next day off to go to an appointment with her. Victoire had given Jilly the card of an obstetric healer named Donnie Jarvis, he was a friend of hers from healing school that worked a few floors below her at the hospital. She told Jilly to say that Victoire had referred her to him and that he'd probably try his best to get her an appointment for tomorrow. She then wrote Jilly a prescription for pre-natal vitamins and informed her patient that she needed to get it filled as soon as possible and start taking them the minute she had them in her hands.

Lastly, Victoire discussed with Jilly that she would need to tell her superior aurors at work about her pregnancy as soon as possible as it was no longer safe for her to be involved in field work, and that she'd need to be switched to desk duty until after the baby was born. Healer Jarvis would be able to write her a specific healer's note for her superior aurors that they would require to take her off of field work, but until then Victoire would write her a sick note that should allow her the rest of the afternoon off. She wasn't scheduled to work that night because she already had it booked off for her dinner date, so Victoire made sure to emphasize that she should go back to her flat and rest until then, once she had gotten her pre-natal vitamins of course. Victoire asked Jilly a few questions about whether or not she had been hit by any spells during fieldwork over the past few months, and when Jilly replied that it had been a quiet three months that involved rather easy fieldwork, both women let out a sigh of relief.

Victoire stood up, Jilly copying her action, and she gave the other woman a hug and her sincerest congratulations on her pregnancy. Jilly squeezed her back, and then promised to follow all of Victoire's directions to the letter.

When Jilly left, Victoire barely had time to catch her own breath let along wrap her head around the fact that her and Teddy's friends Jilly Donaldson and Caleb Cooke were going to have a baby in six months, before she received a message asking her to come down to the hospital's potions lab to check on something.

When Victoire got to St. Mungo's potions' lab she scanned the multiple heads bent down working at their brewing stations until she spotted the dark head that had summoned her to the warm and busy room. She came to a stop in front of the potioneer, but with enough distance that she wouldn't be breathing in the fumes of whatever the dark haired woman was brewing.

"What do you need me for?" Victoire asked the woman without preamble or greeting.

"Nice to see you too," Alexandra Weasley replied to Victoire with a sarcastic roll of her dark brown eyes, "I'm fine thanks for asking."

The blonde healer scoffed at her dark haired cousin who was younger than her by a year, "What do you need me for Ally?"

Victoire doubled down on the brusqueness of her tone just to further annoy her favourite cousin. She most definitely would not have spoken to any other potioneer at St. Mungo's that way if they had called her down to see them instead of her. Like Victoire expected, Ally stuck her tongue out at her instead of being insulted, the act making her look much more like her father, George Weasley, in that instance than her mother Angelina, whose facial expressions Ally was usually more likely to take after especially if it was a look of exasperation.

"I missed you at your regularly scheduled lunch break, did you eat at all today?" Ally asked her elder blonde cousin instead of answering the demanding question that had been posed to her.

Victoire scoffed and put her hands on her hips, "_Oui Maman_, I ate in between rounds."

Ally ignored the sarcasm at being compared to her Aunt Fleur and stirred her cauldron three times counter-clockwise, "I know how you get when you're really busy; between your full time healing job, the last stages of getting yours and Healer McDavid's spell approved, and wedding planning it's going to take an army to make sure that you eat at least two meals a day and sleep at least four hours."

The elder cousin frowned but didn't argue with the younger one. Unfortunately, Victoire had a very bad and unhealthy habit in the past of putting too much on her plate and working so hard and wearing herself so thin that she would end up physically ill.

"I had a full balanced meal . . . I just ate it rather quickly. So why am I down here again?"

Ally nodded her head toward a stack of paper at her workbench, "All of those need your signature."

Victoire moved to the worktable, conjured up a self-inking quill, and then began signing off on all of the forms after a quick summary scan of what she was signing. She made quick work of it –a skill she had acquired since becoming a fully qualified healer was how to sign her signature quickly– and she was down to her last two forms when another sheet of paper was slipped onto the thin stack by a slim, tanned hand. She glanced up and was met with an apologetic glance on a younger woman's face.

"Sorry Healer Weasley, Mr. Dare asked me to get this signed as well," The young woman replied in a distinctly American accent. She was doing an internship for potions school at St. Mungo's, and as she apologized she nodded her head in the direction of another potioneer who was at a work station a few metres away.

Victoire smiled reassuringly at the intern, "No problem Kelly, one more isn't going to give me a hand cramp. Mostly because I already have one." She punctuated the sentence with a glare at Ally's back.

Ally heard her and turned around only long enough to shoot her blonde cousin a smirk and a wink before she went back to her potion.

After signing the last form that Kelly the intern had given her with a flourish, Mr. Dare called Kelly back to his station.

"Green! We're ready for the next step."

Kelly Green happily snatched the signed form from Victoire and skipped back to her supervising potioneer's workstation. From previous interactions with Kelly Green Victoire knew that the young intern was very excited to be in potion's school and to be doing an internship at St. Mungo's. She was originally from America, but she had decided to complete her potions school training in England after hearing her cousin Spencer Green talk about how he loved the country and working at St. Mungo's so much.

"Poor Kelly, stuck being supervised by Mr. Dare," Victoire commented idly to Ally as she watched the intern follow the instructions the supervising potioneer was giving her. Mr. Dare had a perpetual frown on his face, but Kelly seemed oblivious to it as she smiled brightly each time he allowed her to physically participate in the potion they were brewing.

Ally glanced at Victoire, "Mr. Dare's not mean . . . he's just a little rough around the edges. I think he's enjoying having her as an intern though, she's definitely the smartest one we have at the moment."

"It's too bad though that you couldn't be her supervisor," Victoire told Ally.

"I know that Spencer would have preferred that," Ally said as she mentioned Healer Spencer Green who worked in St. Mungo's Magical Bugs and Illness ward. Victoire had met him a few years ago in healing school and he and Victoire had been good friends and colleagues ever since. When Ally started working at St. Mungo's in their potions labs, she had met Spencer was well and had become fast friends with him, "But I didn't want it to seem like nepotism since Spencer and I are friends, and since Spencer works in the ward that _my_ mother is the head of."

Victoire nodded her head, "Fair enough."

"I did tell Kelly that she could help me brew the rest of the wolfsbain potion for this month," Ally added.

"She'll enjoy that," Victoire observed.

"And I'll enjoy the help," The dark haired potioneer remarked.

Victoire shrugged her shoulders, "You've got brewing that potion down to a consistent rhythm already. "

"Yeah but I had to brew so much more of the potion this month," Ally complained as she stopped stirring the potion she was presently working on and let it rest.

Two blonde eyebrows rose up on Victoire's face in surprise, "How so? In the last three and a half months at this hospital there was only one person who was attacked by a werewolf and became lycanthropic."

Victoire knew this specifically because she was usually the healer that would deal with werewolf attacks, or with patients who had been attacked by werewolves in the past. She had only added one name to the St. Mungo's-made wolfsbain potion list since the New Year started.

"I know," Ally replied with a nod, "Most of the new additions to the list are from the Ministry's wolfsbain potion subsidising program."

This information only confused Victoire more, "How many more additions?"

"Thirsty since the beginning of January, and ten new names this month alone," Ally said.

Victoire frowned at this additional info, "The list doesn't usually change that much that quickly, does it?"

The poitoneer shook her head, "No."

"This doesn't sound right then. Everyone in the Ministry's subsidised program needs to have been recommended for it because of their financial situation and have had a full examination by a healer. Not only have that many people not been newly turned into werewolves, but that many people haven't had appointments in the Dark Arts Reversal ward to get their examination and then prescription for the potion," Victoire explained.

"Well a person doesn't necessarily have to have been examined by a D. A. R. healer to get a prescription for it, most healers can write the prescription," Ally reminded with a purse of her lips.

Victoire ran a hand agitatedly through her hair, "That's true, but usually the ministry does call in a D. A. R. healer to make sure that they meet all of the requirements before they're put on the subsidising program. Even if they were using other healers, I don't know where this sheer amount of people are coming from."

"You've got a point, the economy's been good so it's unlikely that it's from people who could afford their own potion before and who had fallen on hard times," Ally mused.

"Where else could they be coming from?"

Ally had a thoughtful expression on her face, "Perhaps there was a large group of people who preferred not to medicate before and who have now decided to start medicating themselves?"

As a Dark Arts Reversal healer and the fiancée of an auror, Victoire knew that there were still groups of people with lycanthropy who preferred to live without medicating themselves on full moons because of their own personal principles. She still thought it unlikely that a 'pack' of these lycanthropes (she shuddered just thinking about the dehumanizing term of 'pack' but knew that that was usually the preferred term for those groups of people) had all of a sudden decided to start taking wolfsbain and went through the entire process of being added to the Ministry's subsidised wolfsbain potion program.

"Maybe . . . but I might just ask Teddy about whether he's heard anything about a group like that at work," Victoire told Ally as she made the decision. A requirement of qualifying for the Ministry's subsidised wolfsbain program also included a full cleared background check, so if a large group of lycanthropes had all had background and criminal reference checks in last few months someone in the Auror Department would have heard about it.

"You do that," Ally replied with a slight sigh, it seemed as though Victoire had found yet another pet project that she didn't have near enough time to be involved in. Hopefully there would be a simple explanation for the rising need of wolfsbain potion. "You and Teddy are still coming to mine and Xavier's for the wedding invitation thing tonight, right?"

Ally and her fiancé Xavier Wood had bought a house together a year ago, and they had invited Teddy and Victoire and a few of their other friends over for that evening to complete some of the items on both Ally and Xavier and Victoire and Teddy's 'Wedding To-Do' lists.

"Yeah, we'll probably be the last ones there but we'll get there eventually."

Ally snorted at that because it was so true, and then Victoire finally left the potions lab to get back to her ward. She still had to deal with Fabius.

* * *

**6:13 PM**

"Kurt did you piss off an evil sorcerous and cause her to jinx us with never ending paperwork?" Auror Hayden Summers asked one of his colleagues and office partners as he scowled at the pile of paperwork on his desk. He thought that he'd made a dent in it over the past hour and a half that he had been working on it, but every time he looked at the stack it looked like it was growing instead of shrinking.

At the desk next to Auror Hayden Summers was Auror Teddy Lupin. They shared a large closed off office space with Auror Kurt Williamson and Auror Jilly Donaldson. The latter two were usually partnered together on missions and assignments while Teddy and Hayden had been partners for over almost three years. However the four had spent a lot of time working together as a group over the years, and one particular assignment from a year ago allowed them to share the office space they were presently in instead of forcing them to work in the open cubicle style offices that most of the youngest aurors were stuck in. Ever since that case they had commandeered the office space and just decided to keep working out of it. Their superior aurors allowed them to do this because it ensured that Hayden and Kurt (both known troublemakers and sometimes office menaces) were no longer out in the open and under more control.

"Again," Auror Teddy Lupin added with a roll of his eyes as he worked through his own stack of paperwork.

Auror Kurt Williamson scowled at the two of them from his desk which was across the room from the other two's desks, "Well if _someone's_ fiancée hadn't given Jilly the rest of the day off then we wouldn't have to worry about doing her portion of the paperwork too."

It was obvious that his comment was directed at Teddy, and the twenty-five year old metamorphmagus scoffed, "Victoire wouldn't have written Jilly a healer's note if she didn't think she needed it."

"Jilly did look a little pale and ill this morning," Hayden added with a worried frown.

"I still can't believe that Auror McKenny let Jilly have the rest of the day off just because Victoire wrote that she needed time to rest because she was having 'womanly problems'," Kurt complained with a pout.

Teddy rolled his eyes again, "She didn't write that Jilly was having 'womanly problems', she wrote that she was suffering from problems caused by her menstrual cycle."

Kurt made a face at the mention of Jilly's menstrual cycle, while Hayden snickered at his colleague's expression, "It's really obvious that you don't have a sister."

"You don't have a sister," Kurt countered snarkily.

"No but I have a lot of female cousins who don't give a damn about manly sensibilities," Hayden retorted.

Kurt then went on to complain that Jilly probably just wanted extra time to get ready for her date with her boyfriend Caleb Cooke that evening, but Teddy and Hayden reminded him that sometimes Jilly only got to see her boyfriend twice a month and he stopped his idle complaining.

Teddy had just gotten to the bottom of his pile of paperwork when a familiar and very welcome face walked into the room.

"Hello Love," Teddy addressed his fiancée Victoire Weasley as she made a beeline over to his desk and leaned towards him to give him a quick peck on the lips.

When they ended their kiss Victoire sent her fiancé's colleagues a rude hand gesture as they had been catcalling the couple as they kissed hello.

"Almost done your paperwork? I want to get to Ally and Xavier's early tonight so that they can stop making fun of us for always being late," Victoire told Teddy with a soft smile.

Teddy put his quill down and stood up from his chair, "I can be done now. The rest can keep for tomorrow."

"That's great," Victoire replied with a big smile, "Why do you have so much paperwork tonight?"

Before Teddy could explain it, Kurt beat him to it.

"Because you gave our partner the afternoon off we now have to split her quarter of the paperwork between us," Kurt replied with a slightly scathing tone.

Victoire rolled her bright blue eyes at him, "Trust me, Jilly was in no condition to come back to work this afternoon."

Worried expressions bloomed across Hayden and Teddy's faces as they heard Victoire's assessment of Jilly's condition.

"Was she feeling that bad?" Teddy asked her worriedly.

"I gave her a prescription that should help her feel better," Victoire said obliquely as she tried to calm their concern but keep her patient's confidentiality a secret.

Hayden sighed tiredly and put down his quill, "Hopefully she's feeling better by now, she and Caleb have their big night tonight."

"Big night?" Victoire repeated with a questioning tone. She was one-hundred percent sure that Jilly hadn't told them about the diagnosis Victoire gave her earlier, so she was wondering what Hayden was referring to when he said 'big night'.

Kurt smirked, "Hayden and I have a bet going on over whether Caleb proses tonight."

Hayden smirked back while Victoire felt her heart-beat start to increase and a new sense of anxiety froze her muscles. She tried to force a real-ish looking smile on her face and somewhat nervously addressed her fiancé, "Do you think Caleb's going to propose to Jilly tonight?"

"Well," Teddy said as he ran his fingers through his hair –a sign that Victoire knew right away meant he was nervous, "Caleb might have contacted me several days ago and asked me my advice on what he should do if he_ did_ want to propose to Jilly in the near future-"

Victoire reached her hand out when she heard this, placed it on Teddy's forearm, and then clenched her fingers tightly around his arm, "Yes or no, is he planning to propose?" She really needed a straight answer to help her navigate the whirlwind of thoughts that had started to spin around her mind as soon as the words 'Caleb' and 'proposal' were uttered.

"Yes he is planning on proposing," Teddy replied with a pained face as he glanced down in befuddlement at her tight grasp on his arm and her intense tone.

Thoughts started to whirl even faster around her head, "I assume Caleb asked you if you thought that Jilly would say 'yes' or 'no'?"

"Well it's not exactly a secret that Jilly has a bit of a fear of commitment considering her past relationships," Kurt piped up with an unconcerned shrug as he told Victoire something she had already known.

Before Jilly Donaldson started dated Caleb Cooke, she was in a very unhealthy relationship with a former colleague who ended up being an imposter and a criminal that was the illegitimate son of a wizarding mob boss. The relationship had ended before the shocking revelations about Jilly's ex had come to light, but the relationship had still been awful, and while she was in the relationship it led Jilly to developing an eating disorder that caused her to drop down to a very unhealthy weight, as well as anxiety issues that she was still dealing with seven years later.

Jilly's present boyfriend Caleb Cooke was a handsome, charming, and clever History of Magic professor at Hogwarts who was pretty much the complete opposite personality-wise to her ex. He knew that Jilly had some issues with commitment because of her past relationships, so over the past several years that Jilly had been dating Caleb he had been patient and understanding so that she didn't feel overwhelmed or pressured in their relationship. Under the circumstances that the males were aware of, it was a no brainer to them that Jilly would say 'yes' to Caleb's imminent proposal of marriage since their relationship had been solid for so long. Victoire on the other hand knew something else that could really affect Jilly's decision to accept or decline Caleb's proposal.

If Jilly told Caleb about the pregnancy first and then he proposed to her after hearing her bombshell, she would fall into a well of anxiety thinking that he was only proposing because she told him that she was pregnant.

If Caleb proposed before Jilly could tell him about the baby, she would still be really anxious but she wouldn't be able to question Caleb's motives for proposing.

So Caleb needed to propose before Jilly dropped the bombshell about her pregnancy.

Victoire pulled Teddy's arm, the one that her fingernails were still biting into, and yanked him away from his desk and towards the door of the office, "Do you know _where_ Caleb's going to propose?"

"He said he was going to do it at the restaurant-"

"Do you know what restaurant he's taking her to?"

"Ye-" Teddy was unable to finish the word before Victoire pulled him all the way out of the office. She sent a quick goodbye wave in the direction of Hayden and Kurt's surprised and confused expressions as she took their colleague away from them for the rest of the evening.

Teddy allowed Victoire to pull him through the halls and towards the lifts as he asked, "What are you doing?"

"We need to go to the restaurant Caleb's taking Jilly to."

"Why?" Teddy asked as she pushed the button for the middle lift.

Victoire pulled him through a pair of open elevator doors, "Because we need to ensure that Caleb proposes to Jilly before . . . something else happens."

"I know that you want Jilly and Caleb to be happy, and that getting married will probably make them happy, but it's really none of our business what happens," Teddy told her with a stern look. He loved her more than life itself, but she _was_ a Weasley and she had a habit of putting her nose into other people's business where she didn't belong.

She sighed heavily and finally let go of his arm, "Do you trust me?"

Teddy reached for her left hand, pulled it up to his face, and kissed her knuckles right above her shiny gold engagement ring, "Always."

"Then we need to make a quick stop at Jilly and Caleb's date to make sure that everything is . . . okay, before we go to Ally and Xavier's," She told him stubbornly.

He sighed but knew better than to argue with her at this point, "Okay then."

It didn't take much more convincing to get the name of the very nice and tasty but still casual restaurant that Caleb was taking Jilly to out of Teddy, and it only took them a few minutes to leave the ministry and apparate to the restaurant in a wizarding part of Lancaster.

Teddy had vanished his auror robes off of him when they left the Ministry, and underneath he had on a pair of dark trousers and a thin-stripped dress shirt that was rolled up at his elbows. Victoire was still wearing her navy dress trousers and beige blouse as she had gone to the Auror Department straight from St. Mungo's, so together they were dressed properly for the atmosphere of the restaurant and they wouldn't look out of place as they did their recon mission.

Once inside the restaurant Victoire flirted with the host _just slightly_ and slipped him a few galleons to get them seated quickly and at a table where they could see Jilly and Caleb, but where Jilly and Caleb couldn't really see them. She didn't use her veela charm that she inherited from her mother's side of the family very often, but when she did it was usually so that she could manipulate people in the service industry.

"What's your plan now?" Teddy asked Victoire once they were seated at a table and had ordered some drinks. He came along for the ride but he was going to allow Victoire the reigns for their _mission_.

Victoire raised a blonde eyebrow at him and then pulled out an extendable ear.

"Where did you get that from?" Teddy asked her in disbelief.

Victoire shrugged and let the extendable ear loose so that the flesh-coloured string could travel over to Jilly and Caleb's table, "You'd be surprised how useful one of these can be in a hospital."

When Victoire got the extendable ear working she started to listen in on the conversation Jilly and Caleb were having. From Victoire's vantage point she could see that Jilly and Caleb had their heads close together which created an air of intimacy around them, and that Jilly had forewent ordering alcohol, not that Caleb seemed to notice the significance of it. Teddy leaned in a little closer so that he could also hear what was coming from the extendable ear, and when he did so Victoire shot him a cheeky raised eyebrow at his action.

From what Victoire could tell, Jilly and Caleb were having a rather benign conversation about their jobs and their days, and it didn't sound as though Caleb was working up to a big proposal yet.

The waitress came by to deliver Teddy's butterbeer and Victoire's pumpkin juice, and she gave the pair an odd look when she saw Victoire suddenly close her hand and set it down as a fist on Teddy's thigh when the waitress walked up to their table. Victoire gave the waitress an overly bright smile to distract from her odd action when she went to hide the extendable ear, and the waitress blinked at the brilliance of her smile before taking their food order and retreating from the table.

With the coast clear, Victoire and Teddy went back to listening to the extendable ear and watching Jilly and Caleb at their table. The conversation had shifted to Caleb asking Jilly about what she did that day, and Jilly suddenly straightened up in her chair and squared her shoulders. Victoire could tell from her new posture that she was building herself up to do something uncomfortable; like telling her boyfriend that she had just found out that she was three months pregnant.

Instead of letting that happen, Victoire needed to give Caleb a chance to propose first. She stood up from her table and strode straight to Jilly and Caleb's table, Teddy jumping off his chair once she was already halfway there and chasing after her before she could do whatever relationship meddling she was about to do.

"Oh hey," Victoire greeted the other couple in a tone of forced cheerful-surprise as she popped up suddenly beside their table, "Fancy running into you here!"

Both Jilly and Caleb seemed understandably shocked to see her and Teddy, who belatedly caught up to Victoire and wrapped an arm around her waist to keep her from nervously jumping up and down, and they were momentarily mute with surprise.

Victoire didn't need them to talk though, she continued to babble on, "I thought that this would be a nice place to go out to tonight-"

Caleb was able to recover enough to shoot Teddy _a look_, while Teddy mouthed the words 'I'm sorry' at him.

"Teddy didn't originally want to come here," Victoire added as she tried to cover for Teddy so that Caleb didn't get _too_ upset with him for allowing Victoire to crash his proposal dinner, "But he can't say no to me."

Victoire clapped her hands together, "So are we having dinner just because or is there a special occasion?"

"A belated birthday dinner," Caleb replied with a bit of a frown, he then turned back to Jilly, "Although, there is actually something else I'd like to talk about."

Victoire opened her mouth the same time Jilly did, but Teddy squeezed her side and then used his arm around her waist to start pulling her away from the table, muttering something quietly about 'have a good evening' under his breath as he tried to give the other couple their space.

They didn't make it back to their table before they heard Jilly self-consciously say, "I have something I'd like to talk to you about too."

Victoire froze as she heard Caleb say, "Ladies first."

She spun around and she wanted to yell 'no!' at them because Caleb needed to spill his secret first, but before she could get the words out of her mouth Teddy grabbed the back of her head and pushed his mouth against hers in an abrupt kiss. It stopped her from being able to say anything, and he swallowed her attempt to say meddling words with his own mouth and lips.

At the table Caleb saw Teddy pull Victoire into a sudden public display of affection a few feet away from them, but before he could focus enough to say anything about it, Jilly captured his attention again and he found himself gazing back at the woman he loved. He gave her all of his attention.

"What did you want to talk about?" Caleb asked as he reached across the table to hold Jilly's hand.

Jilly took a deep calming breath and squeezed Caleb's hand back, a little harder than necessary, before she found the courage to say the words, "I'm pregnant."

Caleb froze as the words bounced around in his head, and a few metres away Teddy also froze mid kiss as his ears picked up on Jilly's confession.

"I–are you sure?" Caleb asked in a daze.

Jilly bit her lip stressfully and nodded her head, "Yes . . . I actually went to St. Mungo's and had Victoire run a pregnancy spell test on me today."

Teddy pulled his mouth away from Victoire's and sent her an accusatorial look just a second before Caleb's eyes snapped over to Victoire and then back to Jilly.

"Okay . . ." Caleb said with a slow nod, "So . . . we're going to have a baby?"

"Yes," Jilly replied quickly, "Unless–I mean you don't have to if-"

Her nerves and anxiety had officially taken over, however seeing her get flustered and fearful kicked Caleb's concern for her into high-gear and he automatically wanted to make things better for her.

"I love you Jilly," Caleb told her in a strong and sincere tone of voice, "And I want a life and a future with you, so of course I want this baby."

Jilly felt her eyes start to water –definitely because of the stupid pregnancy hormones– and swallowed thickly, "I love you too."

"And I already love this baby," Caleb added with a watery smile of his own, "And we have some time to work everything else out."

They didn't live together, and they both had incredibly busy work schedules, but he was sure that with the new additional _encouragement _that they'd be able to redefine some of their old relationship boundaries into something new that would work.

"But we have a little less time than you might think," Jilly added with another worried bite of her lip, "I'm already three months pregnant."

Caleb's eyes widened again and his glance shifted to Victoire once more, who had turned to face them so that it was blatantly obvious that she was listening in on their conversation.

"Uh . . ."

"I made an appointment with an obstetric healer that Victoire recommended for tomorrow," Jilly said to make up for his speechlessness.

Caleb nodded and swallowed thickly, his Adam's apple bobbing as he did so, "Yes, of course . . . I guess I'll need to owl McGonagall and tell her that I need some time off tomorrow."

Jilly smiled brightly for the first time that evening. He had unknowingly said the exact right thing. He was willing to make a change to his routine to be at her healing appointment with her, and even though it is what she knew she would get from him all along, it was still something she had been anxious about.

Victoire watched the couple smile softly at each other. They still seemed a tad bewildered, rightly, by the big life change they were now in the process of, but the way that they looked at each other told Victoire that they'd be alright.

That didn't mean that she didn't want to meddle though.

She tried to inch closer to the table so that she could hear more of their conversation, but Teddy snapped into action and physically moved her back to their table.

"Leave them be, this should be time for them," He whispered into her hair as he gently but firmly pushed her back into her chair.

The minute she was sitting down her feet started to tap on the floor, which was her own tell that she was anxious about something. Knowing that she was too keyed up to sit through dinner –their meals had yet to arrive as they had arrived at the restaurant a while after Jilly and Caleb did– Teddy flagged down the waitress and asked her to change their order to take-away.

The waitress came back a few moments later with their meals boxed up and Teddy grabbed his fiancée's hand, "Now that we're done meddling we should probably get to Ally and Xavier's."

Victoire nodded her head and they left the restaurant, Teddy holding her hand with his right and carrying their take-away with her left.

"Healer-patient confidentiality?" Teddy asked Victoire was a raised eyebrow as they began to walk down the street so that they could reach a good apparation point.

She nodded her head slowly, "Yeah."

"Okay, that I get . . . what I'm still having trouble understanding is why we needed to go on this mission to eavesdrop on their date. At first I thought it was because you wanted to hear Caleb's proposal, but now I'm thinking you knew that Jilly was going to tell him about the baby tonight."

Victoire took a deep breath before explaining, "When you and the guys hinted that Caleb was going to propose tonight I just knew that he needed to do it before Jilly told him about the baby. If he did it after that news she was going to get anxious and self-conscious and think-"

"That he was just proposing because she said she was pregnant?" Teddy finished now that he realized where her thought process had been.

"Exactly. And who knows he still might–I should-" She moved to turn back around towards the restaurant but Teddy's firm hold on her hand stopped her.

He pulled her body close to his as they continued to walk away from the restaurant and away from temptation, "At this point you really need to leave _this_ and their relationship up to them."

"But-"

"I know that you care about them," He continued in an affection tone of voice, "And I know that you only want to meddle because you want what is best for them, but right now what is best for them is to allow them to make decisions on their own, and to take responsibility and deal with the repercussions and of those decisions."

She frowned. It was rather annoying when he was so glaringly _right_ about something they disagreed on, "But don't you want things to go as smoothly for Jilly and Caleb as possible? For things to be easier for them?"

He let out a sigh, "Sometimes the easiest path isn't always the best path."

His wise words caused her to frown at him again, "It's maddening when you're right."

"I know."

"And I _hate_ it when I'm wrong."

"I know."

"Can we put it in our wedding vows that you're no longer allowed to be right even when I'm wrong?"

"Do you think that would lead to a healthy marriage?"

"I think it would lead to a _happy_ marriage," Victoire replied.

Teddy raised an eyebrow at her, "For like three days."

"Were you intending for it to last longer?" She retorted with a cheeky smirk.

He rolled his eyes at her but then an adoring expression slipped onto his handsome face, "I was thinking more along the lines of forever . . . but we can start with 'til death do us part."

"That's a rather morbid start to our married lives together don't you think?"

"You said the same thing about my proposal to you."

She nodded her head, "Fair point, and I ended up agreeing to that too, eventually, didn't I?"

Teddy ran his thumb along her engagement ring, "That was my understanding of how the conversation occurred . . . and why we've spent a good chunk of the past year preparing for a wedding we're going to have in less than three months."

"Just over ten weeks," Victoire shot back with a smile and a light blush on her cheeks.

He kissed the top of her hair and whispered, "Seventy-four days."

A chill of desire ran up her spine, and just as they made it to the apparation point Victoire pivoted to face her fiancé. She looked up at Teddy with an expression that was suddenly very serious.

She locked her ocean blue eyes with sapphire blue ones and whispered to him in a tone that held a surprising amount of vulnerability, "I want a baby."

He leaned forward, she closed her eyes, and he pressed a kiss to the bridge of her freckled nose, "Soon Love, very soon."

* * *

**A/N:** Okay everyone PLEASE share your thoughts and let me know what you think of this first chapter!

**Welcome back** to everyone who is familiar with my stories I can assure you that we will finally address some of the things you've been waiting forever to finally see :)

**For those of you who are new** to my stories, this is now the _fourth_ one in a Next Gen series focusing in Victoire and Teddy, although my stories do also have lots of other characters from Next Gen and my own OCs. I do recommend that you go back and read the other stories in this series, but if you don't want to I will try my best to sort of recap/describe characters and situations that were introduced in previous stories. The events of _The Cursed Child_ does not occur in my series, and other aspects will seem very much non-canon, but I started writing these stories back before we even knew what cannon really was, so there may be some inconsistencies with what you know about the _Harry Potter_ world (Yes I know that Ally isn't cannon, no I'm not going to get rid of her because that would break Xavier's heart).

This is now my wizarding world, so I hope that you enjoy the ride.

**Next Update:** I posted this new story because I wanted everyone to have the chance to get a bit of an idea of what this new story will focus on, but I don't have much more than this first chapter finished, and I'd like to get a lot more chapters written before I start trying to pin down a schedule, so there probably won't be an update to this story for at least a month. Hopefully by then I'll have an idea of how long it's going to take me to write these chapters.

Therefore you should add this story to your story alert, or me on your author alert so that you'll know when I do update.

**Next Chapter:** Vic and Teddy finally make it to Ally and Xavier's to work on wedding invitations, and we get to hear about how some of our other characters have been faring since the last time we saw them.

**I hope that you enjoyed this chapter,**

**Please add this story to your story alerts,**

**Please leave me a review or PM with your thoughts on this chapter,**

**Feel free to contact me if you have any questions or concerns,**

**Until next time, DFTBA!**


	2. Not So Surprising News

**A/N:** Hello everyone! Here's the second chapter. It occurs directly after the last chapter.

**Quick Age Recap:**

-Malcolm is 26 and Teddy turns 26 in a few days

-Xavier is 24 and Victoire turns 24 in May

-Ally is 23

-Dom & Lucy are 22 or they are turning 22 before September (I don't have specific birth dates set for them)

-Molly is 21 or turning 21 before September

-Louis, Cecilia, & Baxter are 20 or turning 20 before September

-James & Freddie are 19

-Rose and Al are 18 and in their seventh year

-Hugo & Lily are 15/16 and in their fifth year

**Disclaimer:** I do not own _Harry Potter_.

* * *

**Not So Surprising News**

**Tuesday, April 16th 2024**

**7:38 PM**

Even though Victoire and Teddy hadn't originally set out to be late to Ally and Xavier's for their 'get-together', their detour to meddle in Jilly and Caleb's personal lives pretty much ensured that they would be the last ones to arrive.

Victoire self-consciously knocked on the front door of Ally and Xavier's house (she thought that the term 'mansion' was more appropriate to the size of the house but Ally scowled anytime she used the word in reference to their home), and waited expectantly for Ally to open the door and taunt her for being late.

Fortunately for Victoire, her cousin Ally's fiancé Xavier Wood opened the door instead of said cousin. The tall dirty-blonde haired professional quidditch player offered them a quick smile in greeting, and he forewent teasing the couple on his doorstep for being late in favour of asking a more pressing question.

"Why'd you bring take-away? Were you worried that we wouldn't feed you?" Xavier smirked at the pair in general but at Victoire in particular.

Victoire and Xavier were the same age and had been in the same year and house at Hogwarts: Gryffindor. They'd known each other since they were children as their parents were friends, and they were very good friends themselves. They spent a lot of their time at Hogwarts together, they both played for Gryffindor's quidditch team; and they quickly fell into a long-lasting habit where they would annoy the snot out of each other on a daily basis. They were pretty much like siblings, but somehow still different because Victoire didn't even tease and try to annoy her real siblings as much as she did Xavier Wood.

"It's a long story," Victoire said with a sigh as she stepped past Xavier and into the house. She gave him a brief hug in an attempt at a more proper greeting, and then she stepped away so that Teddy and Xavier could do one of those manly hand-shake turned-hug greetings.

"That's never stopped you for taking two hours and twelve different tangents to tell me before," Xavier replied cheekily.

Victoire chose to ignore the jibe and wave her hand in dismissal, "There was a covert mission and some healer-patient confidentiality things."

Xavier glanced from Victoire to Teddy, "A covert mission?"

"If you consider bribing a host to get seated quickly at a table and using an extendable ear to eavesdrop on a couple at a restaurant as a covert mission," He explained with a sigh as he ran his free hand through the bright turquoise blue fringe of his hair.

As a metamorphmagus Teddy could change his appearance at will, he usually stuck with the same overall look though, choosing only to change his hair colour up from time to time. Turquoise blue was a favourite of his; which meant that it was a favourite of Victoire's as well.

"And you had to order a meal to stay in character?" Xavier queried with an amused snort as he closed the front door behind his guests and led them further into the house.

Teddy shrugged, "I was just there to make sure that she didn't set anything on fire."

Xavier snickered and Victoire shot her fiancé an unamused look over her shoulder. As a part veela –and one who had surprisingly and annoyingly strong veela powers compared to her siblings and cousins who were also one eighth veela– Victoire had a long history of accidentally conjuring fire and flames to her hands when she got particularly angry. Her family and friends enjoyed teasing her about her many past incidences where she accidently (and a few times that might have been on purpose) set things on fire or threw balls of fire around. As she got older she got much better at managing her temper –and her fire– but there were still a few things that were almost guaranteed to get her riled up enough to spark some flames.

Xavier walked the couple towards the dining room of his home, when they entered there was a flurry of activity as greetings, hugs, and cheek kisses were traded between Victoire and Teddy and the other occupants of the room.

Ally smirked knowingly at her cousin when she pulled her into a hug, but she refrained from teasing her for being late. Victoire gave a tight hug to her best mate from Hogwarts Sandra Line, and then she swiftly dodged a kiss on the lips from Sandra's husband Kyle Line who liked to tease Victoire almost as much as Xavier did. The blonde healer punched her best mate's husband in the arm, and then she moved on to give an air kiss on either cheek to another one of her friends: Anastasia Knott. Anastasia gave Victoire a bright smile before passing her off to her husband Colton Knott.

Colton Knott and Victoire Weasley did not have the same old and harmonious friendship that she had with Ally and Xavier or Sandra and Kyle. In fact, while at Hogwarts together Colton Knott had been her arch nemesis within the halls and on the quidditch pitch as he played the same position that she did (seeker) for his house quidditch team of Slytherin. Post-Hogwarts Colton and Victoire had been unexpectedly thrown together a few times during different demanding circumstances, and they ended up doing each other favours and giving each other begrudgingly good advice until their respective partners (Anastasia and Teddy were both the optimists in their respective relationships) decided a few years ago that they were suddenly the best of friends. Colton and Anastasia fit rather seamlessly into Victoire's group of close friends, and despite her continuous derisive statements to the contrary, it was likely that things were going to stay that way for quite a while.

The last member of the already assembled group to give her a hug 'hello' was Victoire's younger sister Dominique Weasley. The redheaded firecracker that was Dom (only her parents were able to get away with calling her Dominique) Weasley was two years younger than her elder sister and was inch shorter even though she usually wore high-heeled shoes tall enough to make her clear six feet.

That evening Dom was wearing a beautiful pair of dark blue suede ankle boots with a thick black heel, and Victoire recognized them right away.

"I don't remember letting you borrow those," Victoire said as she and everyone else settled into chairs around the large wooden dining room table

"You didn't," Dom replied with a careless shrug of her shoulders, "I took them the other night when I borrowed that plum coloured blazer."

Victoire rolled her eyes at her sister's predictable response, "You could have asked me to lend them to you instead of stealing them."

"You were still grounding me from borrowing your non-work related clothing ever since I got a stain on that skirt you leant me that I wore to a club two weeks ago-"

"You spilt what looked like an entire pitcher of sangria on a white skirt!" Victoire retorted disbelievingly.

Dom scoffed, "I've done much worse to other things you've lent me and you hadn't put a moratorium on my borrowing before."

"That's not the best defense there Counselor," Kyle piped up with a smirk in the redhead's direction. Dom was a Jr. associate lawyer at a prestigious law firm that Colton Knott was a Sr. associate at.

"Can we _please_ get back to addressing these invitations," Xavier asked as he picked up an empty envelope and waved it around to emphasize his point, "This stack is going to take long enough as it is."

There were less than three months to go until Victoire and Teddy's wedding at the end of June, and just over four months until Ally and Xavier's wedding in the middle of August. The past year had been a whirlwind of planning for the two close together weddings, and both couples found it much easier to plan and get things checked off their 'Wedding To-Do' lists when they did them as a group and killed two snidgets with one stone. That night's activities included addressing wedding invitation envelopes in accordance with the guest list for Ally and Xavier's wedding, and organizing received wedding R. S. V. P.s for Victoire and Teddy's wedding; they'd sent out their invitations two months prior.

Colton sighed as he picked back up his previous occupation of stuffing wedding invitations into unaddressed envelopes, "Why didn't we fill these out months ago when we helped Ted and Victoire with theirs?"

"Because our guest list still needed one more finalization," Ally explained calmly as she dipped a quill in her inkpot.

"And because we all had hand cramps after addressing six hundred invitations for their wedding," Xavier added with a bit of a grumble.

Victoire crumpled a blank piece of parchment paper and tossed it at Xavier's head. Him being a professional first-string keeper for Puddlemere United's quidditch team meant that he easily caught it and lightly tossed it back at her.

She dodged it, "You have quite the number of invitations to address too."

"You had to invite all of your mother's family from France as well as half the Auror Department and half of St. Mungo's," Xavier reminded her with a grin.

Victoire snorted at him, "And you have to invite the entire Wood family because of your dad as well as everyone on the Puddlemere United quidditch team and half the other quidditch players in the league."

"Girls you're both pretty and you both have _way_ too many connections," Sandra interrupted the pairs' squabbling before they got stuck in a loop that would last for hours.

"Hey!" Victoire and Xavier protested at the same time. The former continued, "I still haven't forgotten the carpal tunnel healing spell I had to cast on myself after I filled out nearly five hundred invitations for _your_ lavish wedding two years ago."

Sandra shrugged while her husband reminded Victoire that she only filled out about a sixth of five hundred invitations. Victoire promptly stuck her tongue out at him for it.

"You see, I understand why all of you are stuck here filling out invitations," Colton said as he paused his envelope filling to gesture to Victoire, Teddy, Ally, Xavier, Sandra, and Kyle, "But I don't know why _I'm _here."

Anastasia rolled her eyes at her husband's disdain, "It's because they're our _friends_."

"Not all of them," Colton muttered in complaint as he sent Victoire a look.

Victoire rolled her eyes at, "Feel free not to attend my wedding Colton. I'm sure Stasia will have a fantastic time at it without you."

Colton ignored her and continued, "And I'm not even a member of the wedding party," he nodded in Dom's direction, "So where are all the other bridesmaids and groomsmen tonight?"

"Louis has a shift tonight," Victoire said of her four-years younger brother who was an agent for the Department of Magical Law Enforcement and who was to be one of Teddy's groomsmen.

"Malcolm just got back from a week-long work trip to the Philippines so he's spending some time with Nadia," Teddy explained of his best mate Malcolm Wood who had been given the important position of best man.

"Cecilia has a deadline tomorrow," Xavier piped up to explain the absence of his younger sister who worked as a writer for 'Up in the Air' quidditch magazine and who was one of Ally's bridesmaids.

"And Grace had a prior family obligation that she couldn't get out of," Ally concluded as she explained why her last bridesmaid Grace Monahan, who had been a close friend of hers at Hogwarts as they had been in the same year and the same house, was unable to join them that evening.

Anastasia nodded at all of this, "But what about Freddie? Isn't he one of Xavier's groomsmen as well?"

"I didn't bother to invite him," Ally admitted honestly as she clarified why her younger brother wasn't there, "I figured I'd rather that my invitations not be magiked to do something ridiculous like insult the person opening it or explode in a person's hands."

Freddie Weasley was four years younger than his older sister and he had a penchant for mischief and pranks. He took after his father and his namesake in that way, and since his graduation from Hogwarts the year before he had been working at his father's joke shop Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. He was part of Ally and Xavier's wedding party because he was Ally's little brother and she loved him, but she didn't exactly trust him with important aspects of her wedding planning. Thankfully, Freddie wasn't the type to be offended at being left out of wedding planning.

"Good call," Victoire approved with a nod of her head.

The group got down to business at that point, although they did spend some time chatting about each other's days and any news they had missed since the last time they were all together.

"Do you want me to write the addresses on all of the invitations to your immediate family members, or just their names?" Anastasia asked Ally once she got to a section of her portion of the guest list that contained the names of most of the Weasleys and Potters.

"Don't bother with full addresses if they're for my Dad's siblings and children because we'll just hand them out this Sunday at our family dinner, but please write the addresses listed for Xavier's family because the next time we see all of them won't be until Brogan's birthday in May," Ally told Anastasia.

The other woman nodded her head and then began addressing envelopes, asking Colton to put them into separate piles, one to be mailed out, and another to be handed out in person.

Dom felt that the relatively companionable silence was a good opportunity to launch into a tale of debauchery about her Saturday night out at a club. Victoire and Ally had only just missed out on hearing about it at their past Sunday night family dinner because they had just recently been able to convince Dom that such stories were _not_ proper family dinner conversation topics.

Halfway through her story Ally gently chided her, "Are you sure you want to continue this . . . interesting anecdote with your boss sitting two feet away from you?"

Colton glanced at Dom –everyone knew that she was his favourite Jr. associate lawyer at the firm because she was sharp, bold, and took no prisoners– and he rolled his eyes in affectionate exasperation, "Ally if you find a way to stop her from oversharing even a fraction of the details of her personal life I normally hear, I will buy you something very sparkly and expensive."

"There's nothing wrong with my anecdotes!" Dom defended herself.

"Speaking as your soon-to-be brother-in-law who loves you and would never judge you," Teddy began with a smirk, "I have definitely learned much more about you than I have ever wanted to know."

Dom winked at him, "You could know much more about me if Vic didn't have such old-fashioned views about polygyny."

"How many times does a person have to tell their younger sister that she can't marry her big sister's fiancé, before it sticks?" Victoire asked the table rhetorically.

Teddy patted Victoire's leg comfortingly from his seat beside her, "Yours and Dom's record is around ten already I'd reckon."

Dom shrugged, "No offense Teddy, but I'd probably get tired of you after a few weeks."

"Yeah, it's too bad that that is absolutely the only thing standing between us being together," Teddy replied sarcastically.

"You could do better than me," Dom mused with a bit of a smile, "I doubt you could find someone more _fun_ than me, but you could do better."

Ally frowned at the conversation, "Don't sell yourself short Dom, you're a lovely person and anyone would be lucky to have you."

Victoire raised a blonde brow in Ally's direction and made an obnoxious _cough_ing sound.

"Not counting Teddy of course, because he's marrying your sister."

Victoire threw her hands up in exasperation, "_Thank you_."

"So which pile should _James Potter Plus One_ go into?" Anastasia asked as she went to hand the envelope to Colton, "Weasley family pile or the pile for Xavier's colleagues?"

"Toss it in with the rest of my teammates, I'll give it to him tomorrow before morning practice," Xavier directed her.

James Potter was cousin to both Victoire and Ally, as their Aunt Ginny was married to his father, _the_ famous Harry Potter. James had been recruited to Puddlemere United's second-string reserve quidditch team since he had graduated from Hogwarts the year before. He played the position of right wing chaser, and even though Xavier was on the first-string team and James was only a reserve chaser, Xavier would still make the time to go to the second-string locker room to give James the invitation.

"Beside the words '_Plus One_' could you please add in brackets: '_But no fangirl harlots_'," Ally asked Anastasia sweetly.

Dom and Victoire both snorted a little with laughter, but Teddy came to his god-brother's defense, "Hey, James isn't _that _bad-"

"You're only saying that because _you_ didn't walk in on him and one of those quaffle-bunnies two weeks ago," Victoire loudly disputed her fiancé's claim.

"To be fair Victoire, you also need to learn how to better respect people's privacy and that _you can't just walk into someone's flat without knocking first when it's bloody seven o'clock in the morning!_" Xavier added.

Victoire shrugged unrepentantly, "He knew that I was going to stop by that morning."

"And Victoire's poor ability to respect other people's privacy notwithstanding, I still don't want James bringing some quaffle-bunny fangirl-slag to my wedding," Ally defended her statement.

Teddy still wanted to defend his god-brother, "He's a grownup who can do what he wants . . . besides James is not as bad as you think he is. The only way you even knew that he had a one-night-stand was because Victoire barged in before a walk of shame could be completed. I highly doubt that it's happening that often."

"He did have a bit of hard time after his break-up with Mélanie," Victoire said, reminding Ally about the circumstances surrounding James's break-up with his last and only serious girlfriend.

Ally frowned, "They broke up a year ago, I'd say by now he's moved on from her."

"Those quaffle-bunnies and one-night-stands probably _did_ help him move on from Mel," Dom supplemented with a devilish grin as she stirred things up even further.

Ally opened her mouth to complain once more but Xavier stopped her, "If I could assure you that Victoire walking in on James was enough to turn him off of one-night-stands for quite a while would you guys let this go?"

Teddy and Ally both grumbled a little but dropped the topic of James's love life.

"What we _should_ be discussing is the propriety of adding in passive-aggressive subscripts to wedding invites," Kyle said with a smirk as he changed the topic slightly.

"Victoire did it," Ally replied with a shrug.

Teddy frowned and glanced at his fiancée, "_Really?_"

"It was just one," Victoire replied with a roll of her eyes.

Her fiancé sighed and ran a hand stressfully through his blue hair, "Whose invitation was it?"

"It was Konstantin's," Victoire explained without shame, "I wrote 'Konstantin Krum Plus One', and in brackets beside it I wrote 'If you don't bring a bloody date I won't let you anywhere near my sister'."

Teddy controlled the urge to face-palm his forehead when he heard this. Konstantin Krum was mainly Victoire's friend and acquaintance, so he begrudgingly admitted that it was up to her to write what she wanted in the invitation. He also knew better than to get in between the dramatic saga that was Konstantin Krum and Dom's _relationship_.

Dom obviously didn't feel that same way at hearing how Victoire took it in her own hands to add specific instructions to Konstantin's invite.

"You told him what!?" Dom yelled at her sister, "What if I wanted to-"

"It's my wedding and you are my maid of honour and I am not going to let you have another one-night-stand with my friend when everyone knows that it's not a healthy relationship for either of you to have," Victoire told her younger sister firmly.

Dom had a history with Konstantin. It wasn't a very long history, but it was rather . . . _involved _at times. When Victoire first found out about her sister hooking up with a friend of hers it registered as a small annoyance. After a while though it became clear to Victoire that Dom was using her _whatever_ relationship with Konstantin to keep her from developing deeper feelings for others. Fortunately with Dom stationed in England and Konstantin living and working in Vratsa Bulgaria they didn't have many opportunities to indulge in their bad habit.

"Fine I'll go home with _someone_ else that night," Dom replied petulantly as she crossed her arms over her chest.

"I think you're missing the point Dear," Ally told Dom with a sigh.

Victoire let out a loud exhale and then decided to be the _bigger_ person since she was the _older _sister, "I don't want you to change Dom, but I am going to try to stop you from falling into patterns that you _know_ are bad for you."

"Fine," Dom repeated with less venom this time because her sister was being so sweet and sincere, "But the sex with Konstantin is _so_-"

Everyone at the table dropped what they were doing and slapped their hands over their ears, "We're done with this conversation now!"

Dom rolled her eyes at them and muttered something about them being prudes, but she didn't press the topic.

"I know that we just established that writing passive aggressive instructions on wedding invitations is gauche," Sandra said as she picked her quill up again, "But for Lucy's invitation here I am very much tempted to add that she is under no circumstances allowed to bring Austin Pennington as her date to the wedding."

"Do it," Both Victoire and Ally said at the same time.

Victoire's cousin Lucy Weasley was the eldest child of her Uncle Percy and Aunt Audrey. Lucy was the same age as Dom and her ex-boyfriend Austin Pennington was a git and a pompous prat that Victoire had disliked since their years together at Hogwarts. Lucy's relationship with Austin started to wane a while ago, and it fell apart a little over a year ago. Her ex-boyfriend tried to convince her to get back together with him every few months, and Lucy had taken him back three times in the past year only for the relationship to crash and burn before they reached the four week mark. They had been in an off-again phase since the beginning of the New Year and neither Victoire nor Ally wanted them to get back together in time for their weddings.

"How are all the other Weasleys and Potters doing on finding wedding dates?" Anastasia asked Victoire and Ally curiously.

"James's potential promiscuity, Dom's hopelessness, and Lucy's weak resolve aside, there are only two of them that are actually in relationships that we are aware of," Victoire described, "Louis is bringing Cecilia of course, and Rose is bringing Scorpius."

Victoire's younger brother Louis Weasley had been dating Xavier's younger sister Cecilia Wood since they were thirteen. Their relationship was as firm as ever so of course they were going to attend both weddings as each other's dates. Rose Weasley was the eldest child of Victoire's Aunt Hermione and Uncle Ron, and the red-haired seventh-year had been dating her boyfriend Scorpius Malfoy for over a year and the pair were still absolutely smitten with each other. They pair of seventh-years were so cute that they were often the butt of several jokes about getting toothaches from their sweetness or fake gagging when they showed even the slightest bit of physical affection.

"All of the others get plus ones because they're _all_ single," Ally added.

"Baxter and Molly might get significant others by then," Dom suggested brightly.

"The younger ones won't," Victoire said in reference to the youngest cousins of the Weasley-Potter clan.

Hugo Weasley and Lily Potter were in their fifth year at Hogwarts and even though they were both truly in the midst of puberty at that point neither teen seemed to have taken a particular interest in the opposite sex (or the same sex) as of yet.

"What about Freddie?" Kyle asked curiously.

Ally sighed, "Who knows what's up with him."

Victoire glanced down at her portion of the guest list and noted that she was now addressing envelopes to the members of Xavier's team.

"Do you guys remember how exactly both Clark _and_ Mark suckered me into inviting them to _my_ wedding?" Victoire asked the table at large with a laugh as she thought about the two Puddlemere United starting beaters who were like giant teddy bears.

Xavier chuckled, "It's your fault for doing an internship with Puddlemere's medi-witch and wizard during healing school. When Clark and Mark get attached to new people they don't usually let go without a fight."

"They also get an invite because Tabitha's making our wedding cake," Teddy reminded Victoire with a smile.

"True."

Victoire finished addressing invitations to Ally and Xavier's wedding for Clark Westin and Mark Doyle, and then she frowned at the next name on her list, "Xavier, would you get in trouble for not inviting a member of Puddlemere to your wedding?"

Xavier's eyebrows narrowed over his eyes but when he realized what she was talking about, he scowled, "I don't even know how _his_ name got on that list."

"I'd rather not have him there either," Ally said as she tapped a finger agitatedly on her dining room table, "But we do need to discuss the ramifications of not inviting your team's seeker, who also happens to be the son-in-law of the team's owner, to our wedding. We could get away with it easily if it was going to be a small wedding, but we're inviting members of the reserve team too-"

"Because I _like_ some of them much more than _him_-"

"Which I understand, we just need to talk about what might happen to your career if we _don't _invite him, and make sure that we are prepared to accept the consequences," Ally told her fiancé softly.

Victoire reached out across the long table and gave Xavier a grateful pat on the hand, "All joking aside, I don't care if you have to invite him. I honestly don't even hate him anymore. I'm apathetic to him and if he needs to get an invite to your wedding so that there can be an outward semblance of unity on your team, so be it."

"That's very mature," Colton acknowledged with a nod.

"Thank you."

"Are you feeling alright?"

She answered his question via a rude hand gesture.

When they finally finished addressing Ally and Xavier's invitations, the group moved on to sorting through R. S. V. P.s for Victoire and Teddy's wedding. Victoire had sent a box of answered R. S. V. P.s that she had received over the past few weeks over to Ally and Xavier's house the evening before so that she wouldn't have to bring them to work with her before joining the group at Ally and Xavier's later that night.

The first R. S. V. P. Ally pulled out of the box made her smirk, "Don't fear Vic, Great-Great Auntie Muriel has condescended to let us know that she will be attending your wedding."

"_Ugh_," Victoire said with a face, "I didn't think she'd accept the invite. I had to invite her of course but I figured she'd be too old to want to travel here for that."

Dom snickered, "Great-Great Auntie Muriel will have a blast at your wedding, I think she'd especially enjoy spending time with _Arrière grand-mère_ Séraphine."

The mere thought of those two women being in the same place caused Victoire's face to go stark white.

"Did you invite your great-grandmother to the wedding?" Anastasia asked Victoire conversationally. She could tell from the French that the great-grandmother they were referring to still lived in France.

Victoire and Teddy both made revolted faces, "_Merlin_ no. Séraphine is not getting anywhere near my wedding."

"Good call," Dom said with an approving nod of her head. They both greatly disliked their great-grandmother, and they both had very good reason to.

"Then let's move on to happier topics," Sandra suggested with a smile, "Are we still on for house hunting on Sunday?"

Since Victoire and Teddy were getting married in a few months and were planning to start a family as soon as possible, they had decided that they also probably need to move out of their flat and get a house. As a healer and an auror both Victoire and Teddy were both making good money. They had more than enough to buy pretty much any house they wanted, and that didn't even take into consideration the large amount of money they each had in high-interest savings accounts (Victoire's contained the prize money she received when she won the Tri-Wizard Tournament back in her seventh-year, where Teddy's contained the large fortunes he had ended up inheriting from the Black and Lestrange families). Money wasn't a limit for them, so they were confident that they would be able to find a place they liked within the next few months.

Victoire and Teddy had planned to go house hunting next Sunday since they were both scheduled to be off that day. They had invited their friends to come along as they all owned houses already and they figured that they could give them some tips, and Sandra and Ally were especially interested in the outing as they both wanted to convince Victoire and Teddy to buy a house closer to their own respective homes than somewhere else.

"Yes, we are still on for house hunting," Victoire replied with a smile.

"Just to be clear," Kyle began with a smirk, "Are you looking for a house or a mansion?"

Victoire rolled her eyes at him, "Like you'd know the difference Mr.-only-heir-to-his-parent's-entire-company-and-fortune."

"Just keep in mind that however many bedrooms there are, Victoire and Teddy are going to have that many kids," Dom said with a smirk.

Victoire threw an empty envelope at her sister, "I am not going to give birth to _that_ many children."

"Yeah, just eight," Dom retorted.

Her elder sister threw another piece of paper at her, "I am not having eight children."

"Yes you are," Dom said in a sing-song voice, "Because Ally's going to have seven children since Xavier will want enough for an entire quidditch team, and Vic you're going to want to one-up him as usual and have eight."

Ally threw a piece of paper at Dom this time, "I am _not_ going to give birth to seven children."

"Grandma Molly did it," Dom replied with a shrug.

"Well I for one am nowhere near as stalwart as Grandma Molly is. If I found out that my fourth child was actually twins I would have been done right there," Victoire said.

Dom smirked, "Careful what you say, fraternal twins run in Maman's family, you know that."

"Don't even joke about it," Victoire warned her sister.

"Speaking of babies," Anastasia said, capturing the attention of the entire table with those three words, "Colton and I have some exciting news."

Sandra and Ally both let out noises that sounded very similar to '_eep_', and they clasped their hands together in anticipation while everybody else tried to keep relatively neutral expressions on their faces. Colton and Anastasia had had a very hard time trying to get pregnant and bring a baby to term in the past. Before Victoire had reconciled with Colton, Anastasia had endured three miscarriages.

In fact, Victoire and Colton's new friendship had started when Victoire found Colton one night, drowning his sorrows in a pub after Anastasia lost a pregnancy that was four months along. Since that event, Colton and Anastasia had decided to take some time out from trying to have a baby and to take more time for their own relationship and other issues that they needed to deal with. They had been back to trying to conceive for a little over a year and Anastasia had had one more miscarriage in that time. The pregnancy had only reached nine weeks and their group of friends had only heard about the last pregnancy and miscarriage a few weeks after the fact. Colton and Anastasia were understandably circumspect when it came to telling people about her pregnancies before much time had passed, and their friends were usually careful about mentioning the couple's attempts to conceive.

Anastasia glanced at her husband and gave him a loving smile as he wrapped his arm around her shoulder and gave her a cautious nod in return.

"We're pregnant!"

Knowing how hard it probably was for Colton and Anastasia to admit this to everyone made the announcement that much more special. Sandra and Ally squealed in excitement and immediately pulled Anastasia into a hug. Dom smiled brightly and hugged her boss first before she went to congratulate his wife. Kyle also let out a sound of excitement that sounded similar to a squeal and pulled Colton into a tight and not at all manly hug, while Xavier and Teddy squeezed into the close group to offer hugs of congratulations as well.

Ally and Sandra released Anastasia for a moment, but then they started to pepper her with questions.

"How far along are you?"

"When's your due date?"

"Are you going to-"

Xavier placed a hand on either of their shoulders, "Allow them to breathe for a minute."

"I'm just over four months," Anastasia told them brightly.

"That's wonderful and-" Sandra stopped mid-sentence as she noted Victoire standing a little ways away from their group. She was smiling happily, but she wasn't vibrating with excitement and surprise like everyone else was, "Why don't you look more surprised with this news Vic?"

Victoire opened her mouth to say something, but Dom interrupted her before she could.

"You already knew this didn't you?" Dom accused her sister with a raised eyebrow.

Surprisingly, it was Colton who came to Victoire's defense, "When Stasia suspected that she was pregnant we went to Victoire this time to confirm it. Considering our history we didn't want to get everyone's hopes up before Stasia was at least into her second trimester."

"Last time we used Colton's family's personal healer and he went straight to his parents and mine to tell them our news. They were especially disappointed when I–when I last miscarried so we thought we'd keep this information about my pregnancy between us, Victoire, and the obstetric healer she recommended us to after she confirmed my pregnancy," Anastasia explained with a grateful smile in Victoire's direction.

Sandra didn't look too impressed with Victoire's self-control, "Stupid healer-patient confidentiality."

Victoire chuckled and threw an arm around her best mate's shoulder, "I apologize for keeping it a secret, but it wasn't mine to tell."

"Yeah, yeah," Sandra replied with an easy shrug, "Well now all of us are in the loop."

"Yes, and if it makes you feel better Sandra, Stasia and I decided to tell you lot about this before we told our parents," Colton explained with a smile.

It wasn't an attempt to damper everyone's excitement about the announcement, but Ally did have a question that she wanted to ask the couple, "And since you've decided to tell everyone about it now, I'm assuming that the pregnancy is going well?"

"Between Victoire and Healer Jarvis I have had every detection spell and test known to magic and muggles alike run on me," Anastasia explained with a small smile to let Ally know that her question didn't offend her.

"Donnie and I agree that even with her history Anastasia and the baby are healthy enough that only monthly healer appointments should be necessary," Victoire explained brightly, "Of course, if anything in the slightest changes or if Anastasia feels even the least bit unwell she is to come to St. Mungo's or contact myself or Healer Jarvis immediately."

Dom clapped her hands together and brought the group back to focus on happier topics, "So when's your due date? If you're over four months it's sometime in September?"

"Our due date is September 15th," Colton said excitedly.

"Although it's common for many first-borns to be a little late," Anastasia reminded her husband with a soft smile.

Everybody slowly moved back to their seats at the table and Dom asked, "So do you have a baby bump starting? I sort of noticed that you started wearing looser clothing, but I didn't want to say anything about it."

"I do have the beginnings of a baby bump!" Anastasia announced happily, "It took a little while to develop but I've been assured that it's normal for it to take a little longer to show when it's your first."

"You're probably going to really pop in the next few days," Victoire told the expecting mother with a smile.

Colton laughed, "And she is so excited for it to become more obvious."

"Have you gone shopping for maternity robes yet?" Dom asked Anastasia with enthusiasm, Dom loved any excuse to go shopping.

Anastasia laughed and patted the younger redhead on the hand, "Like I'd ever go shopping for a whole new wardrobe without you Dominique."

"Good answer," Dom replied with a smirk and a nod.

"Vic," Kyle piped up as he picked up a returned R. S. V. P. and opened it up, "This one has a paragraph of French writing attached to it."

"Who is it from?" Victoire asked as she got up to reached across the table for the paper.

Kyle looked back at the name before handing it over to her, "It's from your cousin Alexandrie."

Victoire let out a sigh as she skimmed the words written by her favourite distant cousin on her mother's side.

"What's she say?" Teddy asked curiously when Victoire rolled her eyes after she finished reading the missive.

"Apparently she's insulted that I even bothered to send her an invitation and ask her to R. S. V. P. since she is so _obviously_ going to be at the wedding since she's going to be our photographer," His fiancée explained sardonically.

Teddy snickered, Alexandrie was just as much as a firecracker as Victoire and Dom were, and he was pretty sure that their shared veela blood had something to do with it, "No mention about how she was coming because she loves us and wants to spend the most important day of our lives with us?"

"Alexandrie doesn't talk about her feelings unless they're figuratively beaten out of her," Victoire explained as she flipped over the piece of parchment she had read, "She has also written on the back of her R. S. V. P. that she's offering to take pictures for Ally and Xavier's wedding in August as well."

Xavier and Ally looked surprised, "I take it that this is a type of offer that it actually impossible to refuse?"

"She's a professional photographer that's worked for several magazines and modelling agencies before, you'd be stupid not to take her up on her offer," Victoire reminded him.

Ally chuckled, "I also highly doubt that Alexandrie would listen to us if we refused her."

"She also probably won't accept payment for her services either. She got the closest I've ever seen her get to conjuring up a ball of veela fire when Teddy and I offered to compensate her for the work for our wedding," Victoire added.

Xavier glanced at Ally, "I guess we have a photographer for our wedding now."

* * *

**9:38 PM**

"Godric Gryffindor it's been a busy day," Victoire complained as she and Teddy walked into their flat after leaving Ally and Xavier's house.

"And tomorrow will be even busier," Teddy reminded her as they dropped off the box with the returned R. S. V. P.s on the living room coffee table before making a direct line for their bedroom.

Victoire stepped towards their closet and started pulling her clothes off, "I know. Sixteen hour shift starting at seven AM tomorrow, but at least this week's schedule means that I'm free for Puddlemere's game against the Tornadoes on Thursday, and I get Saturday evening and all of Sunday off."

"Jilly's going to have to inform our supervisors tomorrow that she's pregnant and they'll have to put her on desk duty," Teddy shared as he also started to strip off the clothes he'd been wearing all day, "Which means that until they find someone who will willingly pair with Kurt, Hayden and I will be helping him out on his assignments."

Victoire slipped on a pair of soft pyjama pants and a cotton tank top, "Do they have a lot of active assignments right now?"

"Nothing that will be too difficult to finish up, Jilly can still consult and interview, she just can't go out and do field work," Teddy explained as he also pulled on a pair of pyjama pants, although he forewent a shirt much to Victoire's pleasure.

Once she had her sleeping clothes on she padded over to their ensuite bathroom and turned the tap on so that she could wash her face, "Do you think the guys will rib her much for getting pregnant?"

"Kurt will do more than Hayden, but I don't think they'll be too bad. If anything they'll rib her harder about not realizing that she was already three months pregnant," He mused as he followed her into the bathroom so he could brush his teeth.

Victoire grabbed a towel to pat dry her face, "It's not out of the ordinary for women to not realize that they are pregnant during the first few weeks. Especially if they're not suffering from many of the early symptoms."

"So besides Jilly's surprise appointment with you, how was the rest of your day?" Teddy asked after he had spit out a mouthful of toothpaste.

On the days where their schedules lined up so that they were both home at the same time in the evening, they usually tried their best to talk to each other about their days even though they both had to be light on the details because of confidentiality issues.

"Well for starters I had a row with Fabius over something," Victoire said. She frowned at the memory of the encounter with her colleague as she started to brush her own teeth.

Teddy put his toothbrush down, "Was it over something he thought you did wrong or something you thought he did wrong?"

"Something he _definitely_ did wrong," She clarified as she finished brushing her own teeth and followed him out of the bathroom and into their bedroom.

"_Ahh_," Her fiancé mused as he sat down on the edge of the bed.

"So aside from that and some healing, I worked on a lot of paperwork, and then as a break I went down to the potions' lab and signed more paperwork," Victoire sighed. She plopped down on the bed as well and laid diagonal across the top of the bedspread.

Teddy chuckled and reached out to lightly massage her shoulder that was closest to him, "I completed _a lot_ of paperwork as well today."

"And people think that being healers and aurors are glamorous jobs," She snorted with a roll of her eyes.

He shifted slightly on the bed so that he could reach her other shoulder and he began to massage both her shoulders with a little more intent when he realized how tight her muscles actually were. She was always a little high strung; her chosen career path and her own type A personality making it difficult for her to not obsess over details and burry herself under piles and piles of work. He could feel all of the tension in her shoulders and back where she was carrying all of the stress from the past few months that came with her job, her research with Healer McDavid, and planning their wedding.

"_Mmmm_, that feels wonderful," Victoire moaned while Teddy continued to knead her muscles. He was making slow progress with the knots, and each time one came undone she could feel a portion of her physical stress just melt away.

He pushed the pad of his thumb into a particularly tight spot just below a scar she had on her right shoulder blade from an incident with a kelpie during the Tri-Wizard Tournament that took place during her seventh year of school at Hogwarts, and she let out another satisfied moan that surprised him in its volume and intensity.

"Maybe, since we're so close to the wedding, you could lighten up just a little on all of the extra things you usually put on your plate . . . just until all of the wedding stress is over," He suggested as he found another tight knot close to her spine.

Victoire opened her eyes and levelled a look at him, "Are you actually asking me to take it easy?"

"I'm asking you not to go looking for eight extra pet-projects that need to be started and completed before the wedding."

"But-"

"You're a full time healer with the Dark Arts Reversal ward, your spell with Healer McDavid is going through the last few stages before it becomes certified for use, we're planning a wedding, and we are looking for a house that we can move into either just before or just after the wedding," Teddy reminded her softly but with a bit of sternness in his tone, "And after the wedding-"

She smiled tenderly, "Hopefully a baby."

"Hopefully a baby," He repeated with an identical tender smile, "Which means that you do not need to come up with anymore pet projects while you still have so much to worry about."

"Fine," Victoire said with a bit of a pout, "You have a good point."

He leaned down and pressed a light kiss to her lips, "Once you get a few things checked off your list then you can think about adding more."

"Oh, is that how it's supposed to work?" She asked sarcastically.

Teddy rolled his eyes at her, "Smart arse."

"You love my smart arse," She countered with an arched eyebrow.

He chuckled and moved one of his hands so that he could pinch her arse, "That I do."

There was a pause of silence as they stared into each other's eyes and shared a loving smile.

"So . . ." Victoire started quietly after a comfortable moment, "Colton and Anastasia are going to have a baby in September, and Jilly and Caleb are going to have a baby in October . . ."

Teddy grinned, "Which means that their kids will be going to Hogwarts together."

"Yes . . . and since we're getting married at the end of June and planning on getting pregnant . . ."

"If you get pregnant by November at the latest the baby will be born in time to go to Hogwarts with Colton and Anastasia and Jilly and Caleb's kids," He finished for her as he realized where her train of thought was going.

She bit her bottom lip, "That would be fun . . . wouldn't it?"

"Why do I feel like Kyle and Sandra are having this exact conversation right now, but with Kyle doing the convincing?" He asked with a smirk.

Victoire laughed, "Yeah, I wouldn't be surprised if they decided to have a baby in the next year or so either."

"What about Ally?"

"She's harder to try to pin down," The blonde admitted as she thought about her cousin who was getting married in August, "I don't know if she and Xavier are as eager to have a baby as we are. I know that they want children eventually, but I can see them wanting a bit of time to enjoy married life with just the two of them before they start trying."

Teddy ran a hand through his turquoise hair, "And it's not like Ally and Xavier's parents are as eager to be grandparents as your mother is."

"Merlin no," Victoire agreed with a nod, "No one in more excited about becoming a future grandmother than Fleur Weasley. Aunt Angelina and Uncle George are pretty chill when the subject comes up, and Katie and Oliver aren't exactly pushing for it just yet."

"That's also because Brogan will just be turning six this year," Teddy reminded her.

Brogan Wood was Xavier Wood's little brother; his parents –Oliver Wood and Katie Bell-Wood– had discovered that they were expecting their youngest child halfway through Xavier and Victoire's seventh year of schooling. Xavier was eighteen when his youngest sibling was born, and his younger sister Cecilia was fourteen. With one child still so young, Katie and Oliver weren't going to be harassing Ally and Xavier for grandchildren anytime soon.

Fleur Delacour Weasley on the other hand had three children who were all grown up and she was more than ready for one of them to give her grandchildren. Victoire was the oldest and had been in a committed relationship with the same person for the longest –although in that respect she was only beating out her brother Louis's relationship with his girlfriend by a few months– and Fleur enjoyed pointing out that Victoire was about to turn a year older than Fleur was when she gave birth to her eldest. Bill Weasley was less insistent than his wife was about getting grandchildren so soon, but he _was_ six years older than his wife, so he wouldn't mind a grandchild sooner rather than later either.

Fortunately for Fleur, Victoire actually agreed with her mother in this instance. She and Teddy both wanted children very badly and right away. They had waited two years since they got engaged to plan their wedding so that Victoire would be finished with her healing residency and have the chance to get settled in her job. She'd given herself and Teddy the slightly arbitrary time limit because she knew that the both of them were more than ready to get started on building a family together, and she knew that if she didn't force herself to wait until after she'd finished her residency and acquired a position at the hospital that she'd get impatient and try to get a jumpstart on everything else before she got all of her owls in a row.

Victoire shrugged out of Teddy's reach and slowly sat up on the bed, noting that her back and shoulders were much less sore after several minutes of Teddy rubbing them than they had been earlier. She crawled over top of Teddy, his body shifting to lay flat on the bed on his back as she settled herself on top of him and placed one of her hands on the bed on either side of his head.

He smirked at her as she slowly lowered her face towards his until their lips were just barely touching, "Wanna get some practice in?"

Teddy lifted his head just enough to press their lips together and capture her mouth in a kiss. His mouth was suddenly working with hers in a very familiar rhythm that made a delicious shiver run down Victoire's spine and into the pit of her stomach where it started to clench in anticipation.

While she focused on slipping her tongue into his mouth and tangling it with his, he wrapped his arms around her back and waist and slowly rolled them over so that his body was on top of hers; the warm weight of his body pressed hers into the bedspread. Victoire's hands, which were no longer occupied with keeping herself pushed up, moved to slide down the hard planes of his bare chest in their quest to touch every inch of his skin that she could find.

Teddy slowed their kiss a little and nipped at her bottom lip as he pulled his mouth away from hers, "Practice does make perfect after all."

She made a '_hmm_'ing sound of agreement while her mouth started pressing hurried kisses across his jaw and down his throat. He chuckled faintly at the fact that she was so distracted and barely paying attention to his words, and his hands on his fiancée's back started to slide up her spine, collecting the fabric of her tank top as his rough hands travelled up the soft skin of her back.

Victoire had to remove her mouth from his body for a few seconds so that he could finish pulling her shirt off of her and then throw it away somewhere in the corner of their room. Before she could go back to kissing across his chest, he captured her mouth in another passionate kiss that made her blood boil and her heartbeat race. She moaned in pleasure as they kissed, and his hands started to explore the newly uncovered skin he had exposed. She moaned again, and as the second one was longer and louder than the first, he moved his mouth from hers and started to copy her actions from earlier and began kissing and nipping at her jaw and neck.

"I love you Teddy," Victoire mumbled out a little desperately when she'd caught her breath after moaning.

Teddy smirked against her collar bone where he'd just finished sucking on a patch of skin that would more than likely turn into a bruise by morning, "I love you too Vic."

* * *

**A/N:** I know this chapter wasn't full of action, but I thought you guys would like to see a bit of a catch up on the status of a lot of our characters and this was a good way to do it. But super exciting COLTON and ANASTASIA ARE HAVING A BABY!

**Next Update:** I'm starting a six week placement for my school course this week so I am going to be very busy in the immediate future. I am hoping to update once a month until it's over, so I'll update again near the beginning of June, and then hopefully by the end of June when my placement ends.

**Next Chapter:** A check-in with Teddy at the Auror Department, we get to see Xavier and James in action at Puddlemere, and we get to see what Louis, Cecilia, and Baxter are all up to.

I want to heartily thank everyone who has decided to stick with me and follow and favourite this new story:

**IRunWithWolves18, tictalk, MissApollonia, shelaxer8, purplegirly1, NormalIsBoring, MyraTS, Dance4life14, Kdrum1330, Jilly98, Staros, Toadetterocks15, soxmanyxfandoms, Kirenea, tulip 13, radiant garden, Gnool, TeeChamblissful, Lostinwords23, IsolatedForm, finersstainerwithink, Jilly98, 07RCA, Gboudy, amywelsher, Inkling63, KittyKate2203, SunshineGirl1995, Beckster384, WordsMeanEverything, Marianne 16, elizjordan07, Sasha8812, B. arendes, E. M. Pride, NimGrey, mainframe98, mischeifmanaged1509, iloveGGandHP, Loza-Pop, Encypher, WeasleyCousin, Girl From Another World, Shannononom, Lilting Glamour, Jawaswag Jenkins, rockchick94, Ahunt02, AnnabethWeasley22, MrBiliusweasley, OhTeaPea, marauders1096, Judexx, As the Robin Flies, The Black Family rules ALL, Sdaze12, dreamerqueen94, zoefan16, kristjans, shortstuff2127, vritig, CrackHeadBlonde, blah345, booklover5298, Jomateix, ASJames, sharon3666, Megan. R. Corey, Lockheart96, Venls, TheAmazingElle, GinnyHermione1234, Anrheithwyr,Hanalei, Effy1990, Lily Joselynn Black, Owlbuddie212, Fanficnaomi, lynnanthony2015, AngelTwins527, alicenotinwonderland, MrsLutz5, MuggleCreator, Obliviated Bliss, paintedreverie, SnowMoneky583, emzy93, Shinethedown, TheProphetBVB, wanlet, GabrielleEB, lovelife10, AClosedDoor, Lizzyholi, carbo21, whynotong, Butterbeer1, PDnotTiger, shraddhap, Cantodeembalar, Isakindofnormal, MissingSnuffles1740, readerfaye, benjaswim, KrystynaK, wweharry pottertwilight fan, SparksDream, Sulamithe, Almach, aishagi97, AllisonReader, bpearl789, **and **Carley Pie,**.

I especially want to thank everyone who took the time out to review the first chapter of this story because I really, really, appreciate it.

Big BIG thank yous to:

**elizjordan07, ILoveIceCream97, bookstar97, Rfelicis, xXSlytherinQueenXx, Guest (1) Izzy, lumiere100, n. l. 3., ntlpurpolia, NicoleTheSmith, kit94, Dthea33, Saagarika, Guest (2) no cure for crazy, Guest (3) cjaben1, fangirl5300, Guest (4), zvc56, rosesnlilies, kawaiiotaku0405, Dakota1, ChrisfromSK, Rosie00xx, nunachild98, petitecanard, Jily71102, PhoenixHorcrux, Guest (5),**** kill3rdarren **and** Britt.**

**Izzy**: Have you been reading my mind? It seems like all of your reviews hit on things I've already planned to write about ;)

**lumiere100**: I'm not sure if it will be quite as long as the others, but because these stories have a life of their own it may just end up being that long.

**ntlpurpolia**: The 'stats' I used for the conraception potion were the same as for most hormonal birth control pills because I figure that pill form or portion form, hormonal birth control probably works the same. Vic and her siblings are more extroverted, Ally, Molly, Rose, and Al are all more introverted.

**Dthea33**: Teddy's birthday in this series is April 20th, so yes we will see it, and since Vic's is May 2nd we will also see that according to the timeline we are don't worry we will see lots of wedding related stuff for this story. We'll find out about James's lovelife a little bit more as this story goes, but in this chapter we found out that James and Mel broke up a year ago and that James hasn't been in a relationship since. Also Xavier is pretty much the definition of an overprotective big brother so I'm sure we'll see more of him being overprotective of Cecilia at some point even though she's an adult.

**Saagarika**: Thanks for joining us again for this new ride!

**Guest (3)**: Thank you for the lovely review, and I'm impressed to hear that you have a flag for Jilly and Caleb ;)

**cjaben1**: You had some good questions, but you'll have to wait a few chapters to find out about them. I picture Jilly as at least two or three years older than Teddy, with Caleb maybe four to five years older. So Jilly and Caleb are between 28 and 32.

**zvc56**: There will of course be reference to things that happened during the time skip if the information is pertinent to the character or the continued growth of the story. We'll find out more about James in future chapters.

**rosesnilies**: Don't worry we will be seeing more of Vic's cousins throughout this story including the newly graduated Freddie and James. The other four who are still at Hogwarts will be seen when it comes to family events of course, and there will be a lot of those with two weddings coming, as well as the summer to spend some time with the kids still in school. We'll also see Rowan and Eliza in a little bit.

**Dakota1**:In case this chapter wasn't clear, Dom is not in a relationship with anyone right now. Colton is blonde, Anastasia has light-brown hair and I think that's all I've ever written about their physical description. Fill in the other details as you'd like. Anastasia does not have a job, as a pureblood woman with a husband who's rich it's common in her social circle for women of her status not to have an occupation.

**ChrisfromSK**: Hello it's so nice to see that you're back! I'm so happy to hear that you're still reading and enjoying this story.

**nunachild98**: I'm glad that you're excited for Jilly and Caleb, I think they'll have a bit of fun with it too. And don't worry, we'll have some mystery in this story too.

**Jily71102**: We saw Sandra and Kyle here, so you've seen a little now of what's up with them.

**PhoenixHorcrux**: I'm honoured that your first review is on my story! I'm glad that you like my writing so much and I hope that you enjoy where this story goes.

**kill3rdarren**: I don't think I've ever had a review from you before, so it's really nice to hear from you, and to hear that you've been following the story. I'm glad that you like it so much.

**I hope everyone enjoyed this second chapter,**

**Please remember to leave me your comments or questions in a review or a PM,**

**Until next month, DFTBA!**


	3. Re-Assignments and Wedding Dates

**A/N:** Hello everyone! It's the beginning of June so here's the next update.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Harry Potter.

* * *

**Recap:** Victoire and Teddy found out that Jilly's three months pregnant and her and Caleb Cooke are going to have a baby, James is a reserve right-wing chaser for Puddlemere United and Victoire walked in on him the morning after a one night stand a few weeks ago, and because of that Victoire and Ally are anxious about him bringing a quaffle-bunny to their weddings. Cecilia and Louis are still together, and Baxter is single.

* * *

**Re-Assignments and Wedding Dates**

**Wednesday, April 17th 2024**

**9:13 PM**

"Three sickles says that Jilly's late 'cause she and Caleb were up late _celebrating_ last night," Kurt bet Hayden with a roguish wag of his eyebrows.

Hayden didn't take the bait to talk about Jilly's love life, instead he said in a worried tone, "What if she's still not feeling well? She's never late . . . so she might actually be sick, right?"

Kurt snorted, "If she was sick she'd have called in already and said so. She's almost an hour late by now so she must be sleeping off a hangover or something-"

"Let's not jump to conclusions," Teddy commented calmly as he finally finished up the paperwork he'd be assigned the day before, "Perhaps she ended up switching shifts with someone else and is not due in until later today?"

The suggestion Teddy offered made both Kurt and Hayden pause for a moment and think, which was exactly what he intended it to do. He obviously knew that Jilly was probably late because she'd made an early morning appointment with an obstetric healer so that she could get solid confirmation about her pregnancy and a doctor's note that would be necessary for her to give to her superior aurors so that she could be put on desk duty.

"Well that would be a boring explanation," Kurt mumbled with a frown, "Can we at least bet on whether Caleb went through with asking Jilly to marry him or not?"

"Don't you have paperwork to do?"

Kurt frowned directly at Teddy this time and muttered something under his breath about Teddy 'not being the boss of me' even as he sat down at his desk and started to look through the haphazard piles of paper covering it.

A few minutes later Jilly walked into their shared office space and Kurt immediately went about trying to discover why she was late.

"Where have you been?" Kurt asked Jilly; sounding like a parent about to scold a teenager who had arrived home after curfew had passed.

Jilly just rolled her eyes at her partner –she was _so_ used to his personality after so many years of working together– and then she glanced from Kurt to Hayden and Teddy, and then back to Kurt.

"I was at a healer's appointment."

"Are you still not feeling well?" Hayden asked Jilly worriedly even though from his opinion she didn't exactly _look_ like she was ill.

Jilly shook her head and took a deep breath, "No–I feel fine actually. I was at a healer's appointment because I'm pregnant."

Teddy watched the expressions on Kurt and Hayden's faces carefully. They didn't automatically react when Jilly made her announcement, it took a few moments for her words to bounce around their heads into places where they could comprehend them.

"Wha-"

"How-"

"Really?"

"Con–congratulations?"

Hayden's tone of voice had gone from shocked to congratulatory with just a hint of surprise, while Kurt's voice had started out bemused and shifted fully into incredulity.

Jilly's lips quirked into an amused smile as she watched the sputtering red faces of two of her colleagues. Teddy rolled his eyes at Hayden and Kurt as well and he got up from his desk, strode over to Jilly, and gave her a gentle hug.

"Congratulations on the baby, for you and Caleb."

"Thank you Ted," Jilly replied softly.

Hayden's expression immediately changed from surprised to suspicious, "Why don't you look shocked Teddy?"

"Because Victoire and I _accidently_ stumbled upon Jilly and Caleb last night while Jilly was telling Caleb about the baby," Teddy explained.

Hayden nodded and then he was able to congratulate Jilly with an adequate amount of excitement. Kurt still looked shocked at the announcement while Hayden asked Jilly how she was feeling.

"I wasn't lying when I said that I was feeling pretty good, I haven't had many normal pregnancy symptoms at all," She explained.

Teddy folded his arms across his chest, "How did your appointment go this morning?"

"Healer Jarvis was able to confirm my pregnancy without a doubt and he ran a few normal tests on me, blood sugar, urine, etc." A soft smile began to bloom across Jilly's face, "Healer Jarvis was even able to run an ultrasound so that Caleb and I could see the baby."

Teddy felt his heart melting at the sweetness of her words and the affectionate look on her face, even though he was feeling a slight twinge of jealousy at the clear adoration she already felt for her unborn child, "That's wonderful."

"I take it you've gotten a healer's note that says you're no longer allowed to do fieldwork now that you're pregnant?" Hayden asked Jilly.

Jilly nodded, "I just dropped it off in Auror Weasley's office. He's wasn't there so I just left the note and skedaddled away."

"You won't be my partner anymore?" Kurt interrupted in a tone of voice that sounded despondent and a little broken-hearted.

Jilly glanced at her partner, snorted at the pout on his face, and then unceremoniously pulled him into a hug.

"Just until the baby's born and my maternity leave is finished you git," Jilly told him with another roll of her eyes.

Kurt gave Jilly a tight squeeze, only realizing a second later that he should probably be a little gentler since she was carrying precious cargo, "But who's going to watch my back when we get called out to investigate odd noises at rickety old cabins in the woods?"

"I'm sure Weasley or Potter will be able to find someone who's willing to ignore your bad jokes and inability to make it out of an investigation without getting an unknown sticky substance on your shoes," Jilly told him in a soothing tone.

He pulled away from her and ended their hug, "I'll make sure to keep you up to date with all my shenanigans while you're on desk duty and then on mat leave."

"Lucky me," His partner replied in a tone that started out sarcastic but somehow ended sincere.

There was a knock on their closed office door, and Teddy waved his hand to wandlessly open the door. Auror Ron Weasley and Auror Harry Potter walked into the room a moment later.

"Morning all," Ron exclaimed in a chipper voice, "Donaldson, did you just stop by my office and drop this off?"

Ron held up a piece of paper that was Jilly's healer's note.

Jilly felt her heart begin to race, "Yes, I did."

"Well I guess congratulations are in order then!" Ron announced, his voice still cheery.

He reached forward to shake Jilly's hand in congratulations, and when he let go Harry scooped up Jilly's hand and offered his own –slightly more quiet– congratulations.

"Congratulations Auror Donaldson."

"Now, it seems we need to discuss a bit more of the details of this lovely new occurrence," Ron said with a clap of his hands, "As you already know Donaldson, now that you know that you're pregnant and we have confirmation from a healer, we'll have to pull you out of active field work."

Jilly nodded her head, "I understand."

"And at some point over the next several months you'll have to speak with wizard resources about the time you're going to take off for your maternity leave. When are you due?" Ron asked curiously.

"Early to mid-October."

Everyone in the room but Teddy blinked.

"You are already three months pregnant?" Harry asked a little bewilderedly.

Jilly's cheeks went red, "I–Yes. I'm just three months pregnant."

"And you _just _found out that you're pregnant?" Kurt repeated dumbly.

"I wasn't suffering from any of the normal early pregnancy symptoms!" Jilly explained to her partner heatedly.

Ron coughed a little awkwardly, "Yes well . . . now that you're restricted to desk duty Auror Donaldson, Auror Potter and I have decided on a new assignment for you."

Jilly looked between the two elder aurors with interest, "What kind of assignment?"

"We were speaking to Auror McKenny and Auror Burton just a few days ago about how our class of first year aurors-in-training could use a change in instructors as it would give them a chance to learn from several different aurors," Ron was explaining, "So Auror Potter and I have decided to switch you out with one of their current instructors, Auror Smyth."

Jilly glanced wide-eyed back and forth between both elder aurors, "You want me to teach the first year aurors-in-training?"

"Just until July when they either graduate to their second year or fail out," Ron clarified.

Kurt and Hayden both did a terrible job of holding in their snickers as they heard Jilly's new assignment. Training the first year aurors took a lot of planning, effort, patience, and (according to the aurors who were usually the first year trianees' instructors) a lot of alcohol to calm the nerves after a ridiculous week filled with the foolishness of the few auror trainees who would fail out before the next year of training. Since Jilly couldn't have the alcohol that instructors usually suggest to each other, her time spent training the first year trainees was sure to be doubly draining.

Even Teddy had a hard time keeping a straight face as he heard Jilly's new project. Everyone knew that dealing with the first year aurors-in-training was sometimes a crap-shoot, especially considering how angry many of the trainees got at their instructors when they ended up failing out of first-year training, or how many trainees spent time squabbling instead of working as a team because they were trying to be the top of their class. Instructing the second-years was much better and more enjoyable because less of them were likely to fail out or to take it too personally when they did so.

It wasn't unusual for a few of the other aurors to get called in to help with smaller aspects of training while they were working around their own assignments –like how the instructors always asked Teddy to run a demonstration for the concealment and disguise aspect– and it seemed like some of the first-year aurors in training were easier to be around in smaller doses.

"Being this close to the end of the training year means that the first-year trainees that are left are more likely to be taking their training sessions seriously and are done trying to constantly try to show each other up," Teddy offered to Jilly in a tone that was supposed to be sympathetic.

Harry smirked, "We're glad to hear you being so supportive about Jilly's new position training the first year trainees Teddy, because you're going to be spending a lot of time with them too."

Teddy frowned at his godfather's words, "I thought that they'd finished their section on concealment and disguise. Do I need to help with a different component?"

"You get to help with a lot of different components, because from now on you're going to be helping Jilly instruct the trainees while Auror Smyth and his partner Auror Wentworth get a break from the first years and a new assignment of their own," Ron added with a bright smile.

"You're putting me on training duty?" Teddy repeated more than a little incredulously.

"And pulling you out of all active fieldwork, until after June," Harry supplemented with an even wider smirk.

The metamorphmagus ran a hand through his turquoise blue hair, "_Why?_"

"Because you're getting married to the _goddaughter_ of the head of the Auror Department at the end of June," Harry reminded _his _godson needlessly, "And there is _no way_ that I am going to be responsible for you ending up involved in a mission that could take you out of the country or get you hurt when you're less than three months away from marrying my niece."

The younger man sighed and crossed his arms over his chest, "So you're saying that you're taking me off of active duty and putting me on this training assignment because you're afraid of the off-chance that I might get hurt before my wedding?"

Harry snorted, "No, we're taking you out of active duty because _I'm_ afraid of what your fiancée will do _to me_ if you get hurt before the wedding."

Teddy looked dubiously at Harry and Ron –the latter who was nodding enthusiastically at Harry's explanation– and sighed again. Before he was able to say anything, Hayden slipped his two-knuts worth into the conversation.

"I totally get where this is coming from. I for one have had more than one nightmare lately about what Victoire would do to _me_ if I let Ted get hurt while we were out on a mission."

"Victoire's not _that_ scary-"

He wasn't even able to finish his defence of his fiancée before the five other aurors in the room (two of them the woman in question's uncles) gave him a disbelieving look.

"Okay, she can be scary sometimes . . . but she not crazy enough to blame someone for something that occurs accidentally-"

Again he got a series of sceptical looks.

"I–alright, maybe putting me on training duty _just_ until the wedding is over is a good call," Teddy confessed with another brush of his hands through his hair.

Ron laughed in a tone that sounded similar to a cackle, "Well while Donaldson and Lupin are in charge of instructing the first-year aurors in training that means that Williamson and Summers get to partner together in the meantime."

Jilly and Teddy's eyes went wide at the mention of their respective partners partnering together while they were both out of active field duty. More than a year ago the pair of male aurors had been banned from being allowed to partner together even on short assignments.

"I thought Auror Burton forbade us from working together because of the last time we worked together when Jilly and Teddy went on holiday at the same time?" Kurt asked Auror Weasley innocently.

"We'll discussed this with Auror Burton and Auror McKenny. But we reckon that you two have grown and matured since then and that the pair of you can handle a few months of working together without blowing up the office," Ron explained.

Hayden and Kurt both started nodding in earnest agreement that they would do their best not to implode the office while they partnered together.

"Not to mention that Jilly and Ted _are_ still around here to help keep you in line. In fact their skills at that will be sharpened now that they're going to be spending most of their days with the trainee aurors," Harry replied with another smile.

Hayden nodded his head again, "Got it . . . can we still keep this office space though?"

"Have you guys figured out how to get rid of that writing on the back wall yet?" Ron asked Hayden and Kurt as he nodded in the direction of the far wall that had the words '_Why a dragon's skull or manticore tail?_' written in slightly faded black ink.

Over a year ago the four aurors were working on a joint case together in the office space. They used the blank far wall as a kind of whiteboard space where they wrote out a large web of facts and information from the case as they tried to piece together all of their evidence. They had used magical erasable markers to write their questions and evidence on the wall, and when their case was closed they erased all of the words. After casting the erasing spell, they found the question '_Why a dragon's skull or manticore tail?_', which was written in Kurt's distinctive handwriting, still present on the far wall. It seemed that Kurt had accidentally written the words in permanent ink instead of one of the erasable-ink quills.

It was a running gag in the entire department by that time about the Kurt's question still being present on the otherwise clean wall, and even though Teddy probably could have figured out how to get rid of it if he tried hard enough and did some extra research on household cleaning spells, they kept the phrase. It made them laugh when they looked at it, and Kurt figured that they'd be allowed to keep the office at least until they figured out how to make the words disappear.

"No," Kurt announced untroubled.

"Then this space is still all yours for now," Harry replied with a casual shrug.

"Wicked," Kurt and Hayden announced as the shared a high-five.

Ron and Harry turned to walk towards the door, "Well we've got to go tell Aurors Smyth and Wentworth the good news that they get a break from their trainees for a few months."

The pair of elder aurors congratulated Jilly on her pregnancy once more and then left the office.

Teddy and Jilly went to their desks to start organizing everything they needed to for their new assignment, while Hayden and Kurt started to take the piss out of the pair for being reassigned to babysitting with the first-year aurors in training.

When there was finally a break in their teasing, Kurt smirked at his pregnant partner.

"So what did Caleb say about the baby?"

Jilly felt her cheeks go red, "He's really excited about it. He's a bit nervous of course about how we're going to make it all work since right now he spends most of his year at Hogwarts . . . but he's confident that he'll be able to work it out with McGonagall so that he doesn't have to be on campus so often. He did say that he might have to offer to give up being the Head of House for Ravenclaw to make it work though."

"Not as many professors are as interested in being head of house as Caleb might think they are. Neville was able to stay as Head of House for Gryffindor when his kids were born, so I don't think Caleb has to worry so much," Teddy commented helpfully.

Kurt smirked at Hayden and Teddy and then glanced back at Jilly, "So . . . did Caleb say anything else interesting or . . . life-changing last night?"

Jilly narrowed her eyes at him and gave him a suspicious look, "No . . . why?"

"No reason," Kurt answered too quickly as he glanced back down at his desk and pretended to read a piece of paper that he had yet to realize was upside-down.

Jilly didn't look convinced but she had so much more to organize and worry about that she didn't have time to contemplate whatever weird thing Kurt seemed to be considering.

* * *

**10:58 AM**

"Why are we doing this?" Clark Westin complained as he sat on his broom several hundred metres in the air above Puddlemere United stadium's quidditch pitch. The first-string beater glared around at his teammates and coaches as they started to join him up in the air on their own brooms.

Xavier Wood, first-string keeper on Puddlemere's quidditch team, rolled his eyes at his teammate's dramatic question, "Because we have a game tomorrow night and our coaches want us to practice a new play one more time?"

"But we never have a practice the day before a game, we always just have the team run and an optional workout," Clark continued to complain.

Xavier sighed at him so Clark turned to Mark Doyle –his fellow first-string beater– and continued to grumble at him about how unfair it was that they were forced to do their traditional team run before being told that they were also expected to be up in the air for a final practice. Mark was a good sport, and very much used to his beater partner's complaints when the smallest thing changed without his input, so he just settled into the air on his broom next to him and pretended to listen to his mumbled grumbles.

"Just get over it already Clark, the sooner we get this play down the sooner we can be done," Nadia Cassano –Puddlemere's starting centre chaser– snapped at her teammate and friend. She had unfortunately been situated on Clark's other side and could hear all of his irritated grumbles as well as Mark could.

Their coaches and trainers called them and the rest of the first-string players to order a few moments later and separated them into groups of chasers and beaters so that they could discuss the finer details of their new play. Xavier as keeper and Christopher Mullin as seeker meant that they didn't have particularly large parts in the new play, so Xavier went off with one of his keeping coaches (who just so happened to be his father Oliver Wood) to practice his quaffle saves, while Chris was sent off to chase after a slower practice snitch that had just been released on the pitch.

The first-string team was higher up in the air over the pitch while the second-string team was amassed on their brooms several metres below them. The reserve team had already done a bit of practicing that morning, so they were amalgamated in a loose circle as they hovered on their brooms and talked strategy and development with their coaches. Coach Bissenette was in the middle of the group of players as he lectured them on what they did wrong and what they needed to work on for their next practice.

From the far end of the pitch where Xavier was essentially playing a game of catch with his father (although a very intense game as Oliver had been a professional quidditch keeper himself for Puddlemere for several decades until he finally decided to retire when Xavier was in his last year of schooling at Hogwarts), but he could see enough of his starting-team teammates to grasp whether or not they were mastering the new play to a level that would allow them to finish practice before Clark could come up with more things to complain about.

Their first run-through was about as good as it had been the day before when they had their last attempt at it, but the next several tries were sloppy. The new play involved a lot of assumptions and perfect timing-situations that the chasers and beaters had to get _just right_ for it to work out. If one person was a second off in timing it would throw the entire play off. It was that precarious timing that they were having trouble working out. The coaches for the beaters, chasers, and some of the trainers were on their brooms in the air playing the positions of the 'opposing team', and when one of the trainers (Xavier's mother Katie Bell-Wood) snagged the quaffle and dogged two bludgers for the fifth time in a row in a quarter of an hour the coaches called for a quick pause so that they could go over the specifics of the plays once more with their respective players.

The coach in charge of the beaters had a quick discussion with Clark and Mark before flying over to Katie and one of the coaches for the chasers so that they could confer on something. After a few minutes the coaches nodded at each other and flew away to inform their players about a new tweak they had made to the play. Before the coach for the beaters made it back to Clark and Mark, he turned around and yelled something to the chasing coach. The coach nodded and yelled something else back that was unintelligible from Xavier's position near the hoops, and then flew over to tell Nadia Cassano and the right wing chaser something. The beating coach was back near Clark and Mark but gave them a wider berth of space –the two beaters had started beating the two bludgers back and forth with their bats to stay limber while the coaches conferred– and he yelled something to the two beaters from a safe distance away. Clark and Mark nodded at his words but were focused on the bludgers flying back and forth between them.

A coach for the chasers blew on his whistle loudly to sound the start of the play, and the players went back into position. Katie started with the quaffle and tried to pass it to the chasing coach, only to miss when she had to dodge a bludger sent by Mark –something she knew was coming because she knew the play even though she pretended that she didn't– and the right wing chaser scooped up the free quaffle for a second before tossing it laterally to the left wing chaser. Nadia Cassano was flying to her position for the play several metres down the length of the pitch and rather farther away from the rest of the group, while Clark lined up to give a free bludger a harsh _smack_ with his bat.

According to the play they had been practicing all morning, the bludger was supposed to be sent towards the trainer who was following close behind the right wing chaser that had the quaffle. Instead, the bludger went careening in the opposite direction towards where Nadia was in the process of flying.

The centre chaser had her back to the bludger, and even though Mark tried to get to the bludger first to hit it off course, he was much too slow and the bludger zoomed towards the female chaser and snapped clean through the wood just laterally attached to the brush-end of her broom.

Her teammates and coaches only just had time to yell "_Cassano!_" before Nadia heard a sharp _crack_ and found herself spinning out of control and falling through the air. The speed of the impact of the bludger and her own flying made it impossible for her to keep a hold of her broom –even if it hadn't been as badly compromised as it was– and she found herself plummeting towards the hard ground of the stadium's pitch before she could even blink.

She landed with a heavy thud not even a few seconds later, and it took her a moment to realize that her landing was softer, less painful, and much quicker than she thought it would be.

"You alright Cassano?" A voice whispered in her ear.

Nadia turned her head, her heart still in her throat from her fall and her muscles and brain mostly all still frozen from the speed of the incident, and belatedly realized that she was in the slightly awkward hold of a teammate who must have flown towards her to catch her before she could land like a splat on the grass.

"I am now," Nadia muttered as she started to breathe again. She could feel the movement of the broom beneath her and her teammate tilting slowly towards the pitch to bring them in for a soft and slow landing, "Thanks Potter."

James Potter nodded at her and focused on trying to land his broom slowly and safely while also keeping a hold of his teammate on the same broom. It was a slightly difficult task considering that Nadia was tall for a woman and very solid from all of the muscles she had developed from being a professional quidditch player for several years, so he was trying very hard not to drop her or let her slip.

When they finally reached the ground he released his hold on Nadia slightly and helped her get to her feet on the grass –he had originally caught her in a bridal carry in his arms – and by the time the both of them got off the broom all of the other members of the first-string team, reserve team, and coaches were making their way towards the pair.

Even though Xavier and Oliver had been too far away to initially help –not that the both of them hadn't immediately tried to fly towards Nadia before she could fall despite the futility of their actions– they had an unobstructed view of the incident. After Nadia had been knocked off of her broom she had only managed to fall a few metres towards the ground of the pitch before James Potter swooped in to save her. Since James had been with the rest of his reserve team members (he was a reserve right wing chaser for the team) hovering on his broom below the action of the first-string team at the lower level of the pitch, he was able to fly directly towards where Nadia was falling through the air and get under her right in time to catch her in his arms. Any of the starting players and coaches would have needed to fly over to Nadia and then down in order to time their catch as well as James had.

Katie Bell-Wood was the first to touch down on the grass, "Are you alright Nadia?"

Nadia nodded slowly at her trainer and mentor and took a deep breath, "Yeah, I'm better than I would have been if Potter hadn't caught me."

A few of the other players and coaches were arriving as Nadia said that.

Katie nodded and then patted James's shoulder, "That was some impressively quick flying there James."

James shrugged nonchalantly, "I'm just glad that I was already hovering this low so that I could just fly straight and catch her."

"Everything good here?" Oliver asked as he and Xavier touched down.

"It will be until I get my hands on Clark," Nadia muttered angrily as she watched the two beaters slowly land on the grass.

The other two starting chasers, who had run to Nadia's side to see if she was alright, took large steps away from her and moved out of the way so that she had an unimpeded view of Clark.

"You!" Nadia scowled at the tallest beater as she pointed her finger dangerously at him.

Both men stopped in their tracks and Mark grimaced as he slowly shuffled away from his partner. He didn't want to end up as collateral damage.

"It was an accident," Clark said automatically as he held his hands up, "There must have already been a wonky spin on the bludger when I hit it. Coach told me to give it a bit more spin to the left but it did something else instead and-" Clark cut himself off and eyed his teammate warily, "You don't care, do you?"

"No."

"Can I get a head start?"

"Run. Now," Nadia informed his with her arms crossed over her chest.

Clark nodded at her and then took off running towards the opposite side of the pitch. Nadia counted to five and then took off after him. The rest of their teammates and coaches watched them almost idly as Nadia started to catch up to the beater despite the latter's head start.

"Do you think she's going to maim him, or just cause a minor injury?" The coach in charge of the beaters asked Katie casually.

Katie sighed, "She's trying to scare him more than anything. She doesn't exactly blame him, but even though she will never admit to it that fall frightened her a little. I think she'd just trying to give him a bit of his own medicine so that he realizes how serious it could have been if Potter hadn't gotten to her first."

"Sounds good to me, this'll hit home more than any consequence I could give him anyway," The coach for the beaters observed.

"Potter!"

James, Xavier, Katie, and Oliver turned when they heard the roaring tone of reserve team head coach, Coach Bissenette.

"What were you doing Potter?" Bissenette demanded to know as his face started to go red with irritation.

James eyed his head coach warily, "Helping a teammate?"

"You get to go run ten laps around the pitch, now!" Bissenette thundered as he punctuated his words with a jerk of his thumb towards the running track that bordered the entire ovular shape of the pitch.

Katie –who had disliked Bissenette since her own tenure as a player for Puddlemere back when he was one of the head coaches– raised a sardonic eyebrow at the other coach, "May I ask why you're punishing Potter for saving Cassano from becoming a pile of melted gelato on the grass of the pitch?"

Being questioned by Katie did nothing to help Bissenette's surly attitude, "Because they only way he would have been able to get to Cassano in time is because he wasn't listening to _me_ during our team meeting. Obviously he was ignoring me and day dreaming and that's how he was able to get to Cassano first. I didn't even dismiss him-"

"You're mad at him for saving one of our starting chasers from a potentially life-threatening injury? Forget your charge that Potter wasn't listening to you, are _you_ even listening to yourself right now?" Katie asked him incredulously.

Bissenette's face went an ugly shade of purple, "Listen Bell-"

"It's _Wood_ Coach," Katie reminded Coach Bissenette with a bit of a smirk.

Coach Bissenette had detested Katie for decades, ever since she had suddenly eloped with his star starting keeper (Oliver Wood) and gotten pregnant during her first year as a first-string chaser for the team; he liked to ignore the fact that Oliver was just as much involved in the sudden marriage and then subsequent pregnancy as Katie had been. Instead he chose to make the first several years of Katie's time on the team a nightmare since he –incorrectly– thought that she was weak and would quit the team and her relationship with Oliver once the going got tough. Katie usually wasn't a stickler for how people addressed her and even though she had legally taken Oliver's last name when they got married, she had kept Bell for a little while and for simplicity's sake since they played on the same team after all. After a few years the name on the back of her jersey switched to _Bell-Wood_ when the people in charge of merchandising realized they could sell a lot more jersey's that way.

Therefore, she was definitely just correcting Bissenette on her name to rile him up with the further reminder of her marriage to Oliver, that the coach had sworn wouldn't last a year, and which had actually lasted twenty-five years and counting.

As she suspected, Bissenette's face turned an even more alarming shade of purple, "Potter is my player and I'm allowed to dole out discipline as I find necessary."

"Coach," Oliver attempted in a wheedling tone before James actually cut him off.

"It's alright Coach Wood, if Coach Bissenette thinks I need to run laps, I'll run laps," James said respectfully before he jogged over to the running track and got started on his first of many laps.

Katie, Oliver, Xavier, and even Coach Bissenette were stunned to see James take the demand of laps so quickly and graciously.

"Uh," Xavier said as he glanced between his mother and his father, "Did anyone see if Nadia hit him in the head when she landed on him?"

Katie shook her head, "Not that I saw."

Xavier glanced back at where James was easily running around the track. The younger man was quickly coming close to where Nadia and Clark had given up sprinting and collapsed to the ground; both breathing heavily even though Clark definitively seemed to be the worst-off considering that he had always been a slower runner than Nadia.

Xavier watched James with a purse of his lips, "Weird."

An hour later after Nadia and Clark had caught their breath, and their coaches had decided to table the new play until they had much more time to practice it, both the starting team and the reserve team were released. They were told that they could hit the showers, or hit the weight rooms for an optional workout if they preferred. The bottom line was that they were free to go, and the groups of players were gone off of the field before any of them could say _haversacking_.

Normally Xavier was the first and last person in the training room when there were mandatory or optional weight room practices, but since it was getting closer and closer to his and Ally's wedding he found himself needing that extra time to do some of the million and one things that needed to be done for their wedding. He showered, changed, and left the starting team's men's changing rooms to find Clark outside in the hallway apologizing sincerely to a damp-haired Nadia. Nadia seemed to be courteously accepting his apology with nary a scowl or threatening word in sight, and they both nodded good-naturedly at Xavier while he walked by them. He continued down the hallway for several moments before coming to a stop in front of the weight room designated for the reserve team.

Xavier entered the room and wasn't surprised to see that James Potter was the lone member of the reserve team taking advantage of the optional weight room practice. James was a very diligent and determined athlete, and his commitment to the team was at a level that Xavier felt equal to his own fervent dedication when he first became a member of the team. Xavier felt more than a little kinship with James as the younger man was in a very similar position to the one he had been in when he first started at Puddlemere all of those years ago. The keeper understood that James had a lot of pressure on him to be a good quidditch player –more than most felt– with both his of parents being fantastic quidditch players in their own right. While Harry had never played professional quidditch, Ginny _had_ played centre chaser for several years on the Holyhead Harpies's starting team before James and his siblings were born and when they were younger, and having professional quidditch players as parents added a whole new level of expectations to their positions.

James had another level of pressure that didn't involve quidditch connotations being the son of Harry Potter that Xavier didn't exactly have to deal with, but when Xavier was recruited to Puddlemere he left Hogwarts with five months left in his seventh year at school so that he could take over his father's position of starting keeper when Oliver decided to retire, so he did have another extraordinary level of pressure put on him that made it even easier for Xavier to sympathize with James's situation.

Xavier had made it all the way to the weight lifting area of the room before James noticed his presence.

"Oh, hey Xavier," James called cheerfully if a little out of breath from the heavy weight he was holding.

Xavier smiled at his fiancée's cousin, "Hey James, I have something for you."

James set the heavy weight onto the floor while Xavier pulled an envelope out of the pocket of his Puddlemere United hoodie. Xavier silently handed the wedding invitation to the nineteen-year-old.

The younger man accepted the envelope and read the words written on the front, "Didn't I just get a wedding invite from you a few months ago?"

"That was for Vic and Teddy's wedding," Xavier reminded the reserve chaser unnecessarily.

A faux-surprised look bloomed across James's face, "You mean to tell me that you and Victoire aren't marrying each other? I could have sworn that was what I heard."

"Which gossip rag's gone back to spreading that lie?" Xavier asked blithely with a roll of his eyes. As a professional quidditch player Xavier had been accused of cheating on Ally with pretty much every non-related female he was caught spending time with, "And you know that if Vic and I had ever gotten together that we would have killed each other before making it past like a month."

James chuckled knowingly, "Fair enough." He glanced back down at the writing on the envelope, his dark fringe falling into his brown eyes as his gaze traced the words again.

"I even get a plus one? Lucky me. I thought that I'd be barred from making that kind of choice after the _incident_ with Victoire," James told Xavier sarcastically.

Xavier gave him a sympathetic look, "I only _just_ stopped Ally from writing a caveat about what type of person you're not allowed to invite as your date."

"Bloody Vic walking in on me the _one bloody time_ I had too much to bloody drink the night before and had a bloody one-night stand," James muttered exasperatedly as he remembered the _incident_ that would more than likely scar him for the rest of his life.

It wasn't just the fact that Victoire had walked in on him and invaded his personal space that made the _incident _horrifying to recall, it was the fact that she had left his room but had stayed in his flat waiting until the girl left so that she could then spend an hour lecturing him about unwanted pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections. She was softer at the end of the lecture and closed it off by telling him that if he wanted to live his life that way she wasn't judging him, but that he needed to be safer and smarter about it. She then told him to refer to Dom if he wanted advice that she and Teddy couldn't really give him as they'd been in a committed monogamous relationship for seven years, and James had to stop her right there because he couldn't handle anymore well-meaning but intrusive discussions about his own or his cousins' sex lives.

"Teddy and I were able to convince Vic and Ally that you don't make a habit out of bringing home girls you've known for less than a day –not that it matters if that's what you do want to do– but I think we were able to calm those waters, which is why you can now bring whoever you want to the wedding," Xavier finished with a flourish.

James smiled appreciatively at his teammate but then he sighed, "It'd probably be safer not to bring a date though, wouldn't it? Both to your wedding and to Vic and Teddy's."

"Or not," Xavier said with a bit of an apologetic grimace, "Because if you don't bring a date to the weddings I am pretty sure that the girls will go one step farther and assign you a date so that they don't have to worry about you having a one-nightstand with one of their other guests . . ."

"So what you're saying is that they don't trust me?" James asked tiredly.

Xavier sighed, "No, what I'm saying is that Victoire doesn't trust her French cousins not to seduce you, and Ally muttered something about a colleague of hers from the hospital saying just the other day that they thought you were incredibly hot, so I think in their own way they're trying to protect you."

"By telling me who I'm allowed to date?" The younger man questioned.

"By trying to protect you from the tabloids I think," Xavier told him softly, "Which is the only real reason why they care so much about whether you have a one-nightstand or not. They don't want people to judge you based on a twisted lie that a gossip magazine can create with just one careless picture. Obviously it would be better if they were actually having this conversation with you-"

James shook his slightly-sweaty head, "No, no, this is better actually. I've already had more than enough lectures about STIs from my eldest cousin than I'll ever care to have, and Ally unintentionally does this thing when you talk to her sometimes were she looks at you with these big serious brown eyes and it just makes you want to apologize to her even though you've done nothing wrong."

"Oh trust me, I know _exactly_ what you're talking about," Xavier mumbled in agreement as he thought about his fiancée.

"So hearing this from you helps. Teddy tries his best too, but when the conversation turns to more _intimate _matters my mind conjures up an image of him and Vic together and I just–_bleck_," James trailed off as a disgusted look came across his face.

Xavier's face also automatically slipped into a repulsed expression of his own at the mention of Victoire and Teddy being physically intimate together.

"So yeah, this is better, marginally," James replied.

"I'm glad I could help, and if there's ever anything else you want to talk about feel free to come to me," Xavier told him with an encouraging smile.

His offer had been open to James since he was first recruited to Puddlemere out of Hogwarts almost a whole year ago, but he wanted to repeat the offer since new things were coming up that James probably hadn't even considered before. Xavier knew well how easy it was to get caught up in the first whirlwind year of being a player for a professional quidditch team.

"Thanks," James finally replied with an appreciative smile.

* * *

**5:12 PM**

Baxter Weasley frowned in concentration as he gazed at the relatively empty kitchen cupboards in front of him. The twenty-year-old scratched at his red hair as he tried to mentally come up with a recipe that could turn the unrelated ingredient odds and ends in the cupboard into an edible meal for three.

He finally gave up on waiting for inspiration to strike and called over his shoulder towards the general direction of the attached open-concept living room, "What do you guys fancy for dinner?"

When he didn't get a response after a few minutes he turned around, and then prompty let out a loud groan at what he saw. His flatmate, cousin, and best friend Louis Weasley was sitting on the loveseat with his girlfriend Cecilia Wood. Or more accurately, Cecilia was practically sitting on Louis as they played what looked like an intense game of tonsil quidditch. He had only left them alone in the living room for five minutes and already the couple seemed to be in the middle of a fierce battle with their mouths, Louis's hand was underneath Cecilia's shirt, and Cecilia's hand was an inch away from slipping beneath the waistband of Louis's trousers.

"_Whoa_, _whoa_, _whoa_ we agreed to keep this living room rated PG!" Baxter yelled at his two friends before they could get even more handsy.

When the couple's mouths finally separated –after they decided to take their own sweet time– Louis glanced apologetically at his cousin and best mate, "Sorry Bax."

Cecilia Wood on the other hand smirked archly at her friend and sent him a mischievous wink.

"So dinner?" Baxter repeated with a raised eyebrow.

Cecilia ran her finger across her boyfriend's clothed chest and then glanced at Baxter, "Give us twenty minutes?"

"Holy Helga Hufflepuff can we at least get a casual meal in before you two lock yourselves in Louis's room to make suspiciously muffled noises for the rest of the night?" Baxter asked with a frown.

Louis pursed his lips in confusion, "Suspiciously muffled noises?"

Baxter rolled his eyes while Cecilia snickered, "You _know_ that you're bad at silencing charms Babe."

"But I've been practicing!" Louis defended his admittedly sometimes poor aptitude for charms.

"And when you concentrate really hard you do well with them, but when your mind is preoccupied with something else like when were alone in your bedroom together-"

"I think we all get the picture Cecilia, thanks," Baxter interrupted her as he pinched the bridge of his nose, "So food?"

Louis ran a hand through his silvery-blonde hair to straighten it out, "Wanna order take-away?"

"And give you and Cecilia fifteen to twenty minutes to get into some new sort of state of undress? No. Let's go out somewhere," Baxter suggested.

Cecilia and Louis agreed with his proposition and within a few minutes the group of three were leaving Baxter and Louis's shared flat and apparating to Diagon Alley. Louis and Cecilia unobtrusively held hands as they walked with Baxter through the alley, debating which restaurant or café they should stop at for dinner.

"How about this place?" Louis suggested as he jerked his head in the direction of a café across the street from where they had come to a stop. The café itself was small but seemed to be bustling with energy.

The other two shrugged their shoulders and let Louis lead them into the café. It was even more packed inside than it had seemed from the outside, and there was a crowd of people standing around in the entranceway just waiting to be seated.

"It might take a while to get seated," Cecilia commented as she stood up on her tiptoes –she was already rather short at five-foot-two– and was having a hard time seeing the host's podium.

Baxter pursed his lips as he eyed the crowd, "Maybe we should go somewhere else then-"

His words were cut off by a young woman unceremoniously bumping into him as she tried to go further into the restaurant.

"Oops, sorry," The woman called over her shoulder to Baxter as she continued to attempt to force herself into the crowd that was starting to get louder and slightly more restless.

Despite her attempt to wiggle through the mass of other patrons, the woman didn't make it very far.

"Uh," Louis began as he noticed the crowd of people near the dining area of the café start to get more boisterous, "Do you know what's going on?"

He addressed the young lady who had glanced Baxter's shoulder and she didn't even bother to turn to look in Louis's direction as she threw out a reply, "There's a quidditch player in there and everyone's trying to get his autograph or take a picture with him!"

"Which one?" Baxter asked curiously as Cecilia rolled her eyes at everyone's ridiculousness.

"James Potter!"

Cecilia and Baxter both exhaled heavily in frustration while Louis shrugged his shoulders, "I guess he's gotten more popular since he got called up to play against the Catapults last week when Chance was sick."

"Whatever," Cecilia replied with another roll of her eyes before squaring her shoulders and beginning to push her way through the loud crowd to get to James.

Unlike the other girl, Cecilia was closer to the ground and doubly more determined to get to the quidditch chaser, so she barrelled through the mob of patrons without even apologizing to the people she was jostling. Baxter and Louis followed closely behind her and after a few more pushes and thrown elbows –most courtesy of Cecilia– they found themselves breaking through the crowd to a front row seat of crazed quidditch fanatics and fangirls surrounding James Potter and shouting out requests for autographs and answers to personal questions. Standing just off to the side of James was his best mate and cousin Freddie Weasley, who didn't seem to know how to react to the sudden surge of people trying to get up in James's personal space. The pair of cousins hadn't even been seated at a table yet; it seemed the fans had swarmed quickly.

"Out of my way!" Cecilia called as she strutted over to James and slipped around a middle-aged woman who was begging for him to sign some part of her body that made James's face go red when it was requested.

Cecilia put her hands on her hips and stared down her boyfriend's cousin, "I hear you're quite popular around these parts."

James rolled his eyes at her deadpan expression, "I didn't _intend _to cause a mini-riot."

"Then you should have done a better job at disguising yourself," The one-year-older but one foot shorter woman scolded him.

"I did try!" James defended as he pointed to the dark unbranded ball cap he was wearing on his head that was doing a poor job on concealing his identity.

Cecilia scoffed, "That's just pathetic."

She then grabbed his forearm in one hand, reached to grab Freddie's arm with the other, and then unceremoniously began dragging the both of them towards the café's exit. The crowd of people were startled at by Cecilia's hasty actions, but they all seemed to understand with one glance that she wasn't a person to be messed with. Louis and Baxter silently followed behind them until they made it all the way out of the building, ignoring the complaints of the other patrons who still wanted autographs from the reserve chaser.

Once they were outside of the café and had more breathing room, Baxter asked his two cousins whether they had the chance to eat dinner yet. When James and Freddie replied in the negative Cecilia came up with a plan. She directed Freddie to take James back to the flat above his father's joke shop, Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. The store itself was already closed for the night, and it offered them a close-by place with privacy, while Cecilia gave herself the job of going back into the café to order takeaway food for all five of them. She then directed Baxter and Louis to sprint towards the bakery at the end of the alley before it closed for the evening to get them some sweets since both she_ and_ James seemed like they needed them. The group parted to go about fulfilling the directions Cecilia gave them, and Baxter and Louis literally jogged to the bakery so that they could get to it before it closed.

They made it to the familiar bakery in time and found themselves staring at the large selection of sweets and treats as they tried to figure out what to order.

"Well James's favourite dessert_ is_ treacle tart," Baxter commented as he nodded towards the sweet treat behind the glass, "But what will Cecilia want?"

Louis pursed his lips in consideration, "Maybe something with chocolate?"

Baxter gave his cousin a look, "Dude she's your girlfriend . . . you should have some sort of idea of what she'd want from a bakery."

"She likes to try new things!" Louis admitted as he threw his hands up, "When that happens usually she just tells me what she wants and then I do it."

His redheaded cousin rolled his eyes, "That's the story of your entire relationship."

"Well yeah."

Baxter rolled his eyes at his cousin and then started to point to a selection of delicious looking pastries one by one to see if that would help Louis make a decision. It didn't.

"What can I get for you handsome?"

The voice of the bakery's employee was somewhat familiar to both Baxter and Louis, and it made Louis smirk widely at Baxter while the red haired cousin flushed red in embarrassment. Louis raised his eyebrows at Baxter and then unceremoniously side-stepped away from the case of desserts they had been looking at to poorly pretend that he had spotted something of interest halfway across the empty bakery.

Baxter internally swore at his cousin for leaving him alone, and then he turned around to face the pretty woman standing behind him. She had a stylish blonde pixie haircut, and there was the beginning of a vine-like tattoo on the skin peeking out of the neckline of her shirt around her collar bone. Baxter had run into that particular female bakery employee many times over the past few years, and she seemed to enjoy flirting with him every time he came in. She had once told him that her name was Lia, but he had never been quite articulate enough in their encounters to fully introduce himself to her. Instead she chose to call him nicknames like 'Handsome', 'Red', and one time –much to the amusement of his friend Eliza Parker whom he had been standing next to at the time– 'Hot Stuff'.

Louis, Cecilia, and even Eliza had tried in the past to convince Baxter to ask the cute bakery employee out on a date, but shy Baxter had largely disregarded their advice and done his best to ignore the bakery in general unless it was absolutely necessary for him to go there. Louis's smirk and abandonment was obviously intended to force Baxter to talk to the young woman; he clearly hadn't given up on trying to push Baxter towards her whenever the golden opportunity rose.

"Uh . . . I need a treacle tart," Baxter finally told Lia after what he realized was a much too lengthy pause.

She smirked at him and her tongue peeked out just slightly to wet her lips, "Anything else?"

"Uh . . ." Baxter trailed off as he stared at her, his mind suddenly blanked.

Lia raised an eyebrow at him but moved to start collecting a treacle tart for him out of the pastry case. She finished the task rather quickly and was at Baxter's side in a second with the treacle start in a closed pastry box.

"Have you decided on whether you'd like something else?" She asked him with a look that made Baxter think that she wasn't strictly talking about the desserts in front of them.

He stared at her brown eyes for a moment before he blurted out the first dessert that came to mind, "Brownies."

Lia titled her head to the side and gave him a bit of a suspicious look, "What kind? We've got double-fudge, caramel and fudge with pecan, _hot _brownies-"

"Wh-What's a hot brownie?" Baxter blurted the question out before she could finish her list.

She just smirked at him and subtly shifted even closer towards him, decreasing the distance between their bodies to an intimate foot and a half, "They're a bit of a specialty here. They're like normal brownies but they have hot spices added to the batter. It gives the treat a nice exciting _kick_ and _heat_ that you don't get from the more _mundane_ and _boring_ desserts."

"Do they burn?" Baxter had _meant_ to ask if they'd feel like they were burning the mouth when eaten, but for some reason he was only able to get out three words.

Her eyes were locked on his with a level of significance that hinted to Baxter that they were _not_ talking about the desserts anymore, and she replied, "The spice can be a little . . . _overwhelming_ at first for people who are used to more bland and vanilla flavours, but ultimately it's a much more _satisfying_ choice with its luscious and tantalizing flavour combination. I haven't heard a complaint about them yet."

Baxter was certain at that point that his face was a shade of red comparative to his hair, and he stumbled around a reply before fortune decided to intervene and help him out of his agitation. Louis had ambled back to where Baxter and Lia stood near the first pasty case, and he had two small pastry bags full of self-serve cookies.

"Got everything we need?" Louis asked Baxter warily.

It was obvious to Louis that Baxter and Lia were in the middle of some sort of intense conversation –the tension between them was palpable, and the colour on Baxter's face was effulgent– but he had already given them a significant amount of time to talk to each other given their present circumstances. If they didn't get back to the flat above the shop soon with dessert Cecilia would come looking for them, and that would more than likely not turn out well for Baxter.

Lia broke her staring contest with the red-haired man and turned to glance at Louis, "We were just discussing what flavour of brownies Red wants."

Baxter felt his face flush to an even deeper shade of red while Louis shifted his gaze from them to the selection of brownies in the dessert case.

"Oh hot brownies! Cecilia loves those. Wanna get some of those too Bax?" Louis asked his cousin as he pointed a particular dessert array on one of the shelves in the case.

Baxter felt Lia's eyes on him but he turned to Louis and swallowed thickly, "If that's what you suggest, sure."

Louis sent his cousin a covert questioning look before he went on to request a specific number of hot brownies from Lia. She silently boxed them up and led both young men to the cash. Louis and Baxter paid for their purchases and then left the story with barely a word outside of common retail courtesy uttered by Lia. As the pair went to leave the shop Baxter could feel a pair of eyes on his back, he had a strong urge to turn around and look at her, but in the end he ignored it and mindlessly followed Louis out of the store.

They arrived at Weasley's Wizard Wheezes quickly and entered the shop through the unlocked back door where Freddie was waiting for them. He locked the door behind them –confirming Louis's suspicion that they were the last to arrive and that Cecilia had gotten there before them– and led them up to the flat that was above the store.

When Freddie's parents George and Angelina had found out that they were pregnant with his older sister Ally they decided to move out of the flat above the shop and into an actual house that had more rooms and an outside yard space. They had kept the flat in their possession and changed part of it into George's workshop so that they could utilize the workshop space already in the store as more floor space for their goods. Another section of the flat worked as extra storage for the store, while another part was adjusted to look like a bachelor style flat with open concept kitchenette, living space, and bedroom; the only area of the living part of the flat that was closed off with a door was the bathroom. Freddie's parents had allowed Freddie to live in the available flat space for the past several months when it became apparent to them that Freddie didn't have many goals in life above working at the joke shop. Since he had no present plans to change careers or to move somewhere for a new job, they gave him the flat space to give him the illusion of a bit more adult independence.

The minute Louis and Baxter entered the flat they were practically forced into a couple chairs so that the rest of their group could start eating dinner, and the first several moments passed with everyone stuffing their faces full of food. It wasn't until everyone had had a chance to put to rest their pangs of hunger that they started to actually converse about their days.

James had a captive audience as he recounted the incident at Puddlemere earlier in the day when he saved Nadia Cassano from becoming a splotch on the grass of the pitch, and after the story ended he absentmindedly added that he had received a wedding invitation from Xavier.

"But I haven't even gotten an invitation yet!" Freddie complained indignantly around mouthfuls of chips.

Louis rolled his eyes at his one-year-younger cousin, "That's because you're _in_ the wedding."

"Still-"

"It's probably best not to get a formal invitation anyway, it comes with way too much pressure to bring a plus one," James explained with a frown.

Freddie snorted, "Why would you want to bring a plus one to either wedding? There's sure to be _lots_ of fit birds at both Vic and Ally's weddings just waiting to be chatted up."

Cecilia sent Freddie an incredulous look, "You don't actually believe yourself do you? I can promise you that there is no bird _waiting_ out there for you to chat them up."

"You waited for Louis," Freddie pointed out as he reminded her that she had come around to her more-than-friends feelings for Louis back in their third year before the boy in question had.

"For like a month," Cecilia replied with a scoff and a roll of her eyes, "No woman should wait forever for a bloke, they should try to make a move themselves or move on."

James sighed heavily, "Well it'd be a lot easier finding a date for both weddings if more women took the initiative."

"I'm sure you had half a dozen offers this evening already," Baxter pointed out with a smirk.

James's cheeks went red and he glared at his half-eaten sandwich, "Those don't count. Besides, I was given explicit instructions to bring someone family-gathering appropriate to both weddings or face the wrath of the brides."

"Whose definition of family-gathering appropriate? 'Cause Dom's would give you a fair bit of wiggle room," Freddie pointed out with a soggy chip.

The professional quidditch player tapped the side of his plate, "I'm going to hazard a guess and say that I should be working within Vic and Ally's definition of family-gathering appropriate."

"You should probably start looking now then," Cecilia suggested in an evident tone.

"You've get less than three months till Victoire and Teddy's wedding after all. In fact, all of you should be looking for potential wedding dates," She added as she called out Freddie and Baxter as well, "Because you can be sure that this rule about family-gathering appropriate dates applies to you two as well."

Freddie smirked at Cecilia and waggled his eyebrows at her, "Got any cute single girlfriends Cecilia?"

The statement was mostly teasing, Cecilia only had a few close female friendships and Freddie had already met pretty much all of them.

"You mean any cute single girlfriends that you or Anish haven't vomited on when you were drunk in the past year and a half?" She asked with a raised eyebrow, "That's a no."

"Oh well, on to Plan B," Freddie replied with a shrug.

James and Baxter both glanced at Freddie in curiosity, "What's Plan B?"

"_Brua_."

"Pardon?"

Freddie rolled his eyes at his cousins, "_Brua_, it's the newest hottest mixed wizard and muggle club. We'll go this weekend and find us some single women."

* * *

**A/N:** They're going to partaaay! So how did we like this chapter? I know it's a bit more catch up, but trust me when I say that there is some groundwork being laid for future storylines. Also, how much fun is it going to be to read about Teddy and Jilly training new aurors?

Please remember to leave me your thought on this chapter in the form of a review!

**Next Update:** Will be before the end of the month, maybe even as little as three weeks. I'm officially halfway through my placement so I'm intending to update once it's over.

**Next Chapter:** It's quidditch game night so we get too see a few more Weasley family members, more Nadia and Malcolm and Katie and Oliver, and finally some Brogan! Also, we're finally going to find out what gender of child Giavanna and Chris had, as well as the baby's name. If you'd like to guess as to the baby's gender, feel free!

Thanks you to everyone who has followed, favourited, read, and especially reviewed!

BIG thank yous as always to:

**TheProphetBVB, carbo21, ntlpurpolia, xXSlytherinsQueenXx, Katia0203, Guest (1), fangirl5300, zvc56, Izzy, Guest (2), ChrisfromSK, Dthea33, Break This Spell626, rosesnlilies, petitecanard, PhoenixHorcrux, bookstar97, kit94, kawaiiotaku0405, creativeH, **and **loverloverlover**.

**TheProphetBVB**: Sorry about you Baxter/Eliza ship, maybe your next one will work out better?

**carbo21**: I'm glad you asked about Giavanna and Chris's kid, because you're going to find out next chapter. Any guesses?

**Izzy**: Thanks again for the lovely long review!

**ChrisfromSK**: I'd love to write a quidditch centred one-shot at some point, it's mostly a lack of time than a lack on interest in the idea that makes its hard to follow through on it.

**Dthea33**: The wedding will be the end of June, I'd aimed for beginning of July in HtA, but when I actually looked at the calendar for 2024 I found that the very last days of June were a weekend, and that that would give enough time for the Hogwarts kids to graduate and be done school. It's definitely the very end of June.

**kit94**: We get to see toddler Rowan in two chapters time.

**loverloverlover**: Thank you for the lovely review! Also, yes, it has been quite a while, especially if you started reading TTA from the very beginning. Hopefully things will go well and we'll have a few more years of updates and stories together :)

**I hope that you all enjoyed this chapter,**

**Please let me know how you feel about it,**

**If you ahve any questions or concerns let me know about those too,**

**Leave me a review or a PM,**

**I hope everyone has a great June, **

**Until next time, DFTBA!**


	4. The Game of Life

**A/N:** Hi everyone, here's my update right on time! I've now finished my placement for school and I have one more class to take over the summer while I work at my summer job. I've got a busy summer lined up but I'm still going to try my best to carve out time for writing.

Anyway, enjoy this chapter, I had a lot of fun writing it.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own _Harry Potter._

* * *

**Recap:** Victoire and Teddy's friends Jilly and Caleb and Colton and Anastasia are pregnant. Vic and Teddy can't wait to get married and start on their family, Ally and Xavier are getting married a few months after Victoire. Giavanna and Christopher Mullin got married and pregnant in the last story so the baby's a year old now, Molly's favourite quidditch team is not Puddlemere and it drives Ally crazy, and Brogan Wood is the most adorable child ever.

* * *

**The Game of Life**

**Thursday, April 18th 2024**

**6:14 PM**

"Why are we here _so_ early?" Dom Weasley questioned her big sister as she trudged behind her aforementioned big sister and said sister's fiancé as the group walked into Puddlemere United's quidditch stadium.

"Because this way we have a chance to chat with everyone before the game beings!" Victoire explained cheerily as she swung her and Teddy's combined hands back-and-forth as they walked.

Dom rolled her eyes, "Why can't we talk to them _during_ the game?"

"Because we should be watching the game during the game," Teddy added with a smirk. He knew that Dom actually wasn't a big fan of quidditch but that she was only attending the game that night because everyone else was going to be there.

"And because Ally likes to yell '_shhh_' at anyone who talks over the sound of the announcer talking about how good of a job Xavier is doing," Victoire added at the expense of her favourite cousin who wasn't there to defend herself.

"True," Her fiancé agreed.

Dom let out a loud sigh, "_Still_ I-"

"You didn't have to come with us," Victoire notified her younger sister, "You could have come later with Colton and Anastasia."

Dom made a face at the suggestion, "They were stopping by Colton's parents' home today to inform them about the pregnancy. No _way_ was I going to be there in case it went south."

"How could it go south? They're bringing good news," Teddy remarked.

"Have you forgotten that Colton's father offered to arrange a divorce for him the last time Stasia miscarried so that Colton could marry a new woman who would be able to give him 'the heir he deserves'?" Dom asked.

Teddy nodded sadly, "_Ah_, I must have subconsciously blocked out that memory because of how horrid it was."

"Exactly, who knows what they'll say this time. Creighton Knott won't give Anastasia a break until she delivers a healthy baby," Dom said sadly.

Victoire gritted her teeth at the thought of Colton's prat of a father, "I don't know how you can work for him."

"It's just for another few years until he retires and Colton takes over his position as Sr. partner. I actually think he'd retire sooner if Anastasia's baby ends up being a boy. He might just let his hold on his practice go if Colton has an heir to eventually pass it along to," Dom expounded.

Victoire rolled her eyes, "Yes, and heaven forbid that Stasia and Colton's first child be a girl and not the long-awaited male heir."

"It'd serve Creighton right though," Dom muttered with a self-righteous nod.

The group of three reached the level of the stadium where they had to show their ticket passes to the security wizard stationed just below the upper level of box seats. Despite Dom's complaint that they had arrived much too soon for the game (which was to start in just over a half-hour) fans were already trickling into the stadium and it was already about half full. The security wizard spent more time staring at the low-cut black shirt Dom was wearing –she had forewent wearing a Puddlemere jersey, like the ones Teddy and Victoire were decked out in, to prove that she was unconcerned with the game she was about to watch– than he did inspecting their badges, and within a few moments the trio was striding down the hallway towards the box that they normally sat in with some other friends and family members of Puddlemere United players.

Upon entering the box Victoire was unsurprised to see that her cousin Ally was already there, nor was she surprised to see that Cecilia, Louis, and little Brogan Wood were already present and sitting in seats around Ally as they had a conversation with her.

Louis was the first person to notice his sisters and Teddy's arrival, but before Louis could get the words "Hey everyone" out of his mouth Brogan Wood unceremoniously jumped off of Ally's lap and darted towards one of his favourite people.

"Vic!" The five-year-old voice of the youngest Wood sibling yelled as he barrelled into Victoire's legs, wrapping his arms around her legs and giving her as tight a squeeze as he could manage.

Victoire giggled at him and knelt down so that he could give her a proper hug, "Hey there Baby Boy! Are you happy to see me?"

The words sounded a little sarcastic to the adults, but Brogan ignored it and squeezed her impossibly tighter, "I missed you."

"It's only been a week since you've seen her Bro," Cecilia told her much younger brother with a roll of her eyes.

Brogan turned his head so that he could stick his tongue out at his sister, causing all of the adults to laugh. Once Victoire was able to gently pry the littlest Wood off of her, Brogan merrily moved on to giving Teddy, and then Dom big hugs of their own. Neither hug was quite as enthusiastic as the one Brogan gave Victoire, but since they had all known Brogan since his birth just under six years ago, they were all aware of the partiality he'd held for Victoire since he could crawl.

Somehow Brogan ended up conning Victoire into picking him up and carrying him the short distance to where Ally, Louis, and Cecilia were sitting; and once Victoire, Teddy, and Dom settled themselves in seats around the former, Brogan cuddled himself up on top of Victoire's lap.

"So who's on Brogan duty tonight?" Victoire asked the group as she glanced between Cecilia and Ally.

Between the two of them and Brogan's mother Katie, one of them would be designated as in charge of the littlest Wood for the game that evening. They usually traded off the duty between them from game to game.

"Louis and I are," Cecilia explained as she half-heartedly raised her hand, Brogan jumped off of Victoire's lap and skipped back to Cecilia's side when she started talking, "We can't stay for the entire game because we both have busy days at work tomorrow, so we're going to leave around nine. Mum found out our plans and asked me to take Brogan back home with me when I go to leave, and get him into bed."

Cecilia still lived at home with her parents and Brogan. She had tried to bring up the topic of potentially moving out of home and finding her own flat (she had a full time job and could easily afford it) but every time she tried to mention it to her mother, Katie seemed to sense where the conversation was going and she seemed to be intentionally side-stepping the topic. Despite Cecilia technically living at home, she did spend several nights a week with Louis at his and Baxter's flat. Her parents were well aware of how she split her time, so when her mother asked her to take Brogan home later that night Katie knew that she was also asking her to stay at home that night with Brogan and not go over to Louis's.

"Did Baxter not come with you?" Dom asked Louis and Cecilia curiously.

The three of them were close to inseparable and found together more often than not ever since their birth twenty years ago. Cecilia's father Oliver Wood and Baxter's father Percy Weasley had been friends since their Hogwarts years, and with Cecilia and Baxter's births within a few months of each other's they were guaranteed to be playmates from a young age. Katie and Oliver had also become close with Bill and Fleur Weasley when their eldest children Xavier and Victoire were born, so when Louis and Cecilia and Baxter were all born within the same year the two Weasley cousins and one Wood were thrown together for all kinds of activities and playdates. Not even Cecilia and Louis being sorted into Gryffindor house and Baxter in Hufflepuff during their first year at Hogwarts could separate the three friends.

"He was supposed to come with us but someone brought an antique wand in need of a complete restoration into the shop just before closing time, and Blair and Baxter got so wrapped up in fixing it that we would have literally had to drag him out of the shop to get him to come with us. He said he'd try to stop by later if he could," Louis explained with a careless shrug.

Baxter Weasley started working as an assistant to Blair Ollivander, the head wandmaker of _Ollivander's Wand Shop_ in Diagon Alley, since his graduation from Hogwarts almost three years ago. Originally Baxter had gotten the job because he didn't know what he wanted to do with his life, but he had quickly gotten swept up in the field of wand repair and wandmaking, and after just a couple years it seemed that Blair Ollivander was finally starting to show him the ropes and even the family secrets of wandmaking. Baxter was greatly enjoying his work and he was now excited to go to the shop each morning.

"Did Molly not come with _you_?" Louis asked his middle sister in return.

Molly Weasley was Percy and Audrey Weasley's middle child, and she was a year older than Baxter, and one year younger than their eldest sister Lucy. Molly and Dom had been sharing a flat for a year and she and Dom usually arrived at events together when it was a place they were both expected to be.

Dom shrugged her shoulders, "She was taking too long to figure out which pieces of her Tutshill Tornadoes clothing she wanted to wear."

Molly, Rose, and their Uncle Ron were the lone members of the Weasley and Potter families who cheered for a team that wasn't Puddlemere or the Harpies. Molly's love for the Tornadoes only really annoyed Ally, who was such a strong supporter of her fiancé's team that she would berate anyone around her who wasn't cheering for Xavier's team.

Just hearing that Molly was going to spend her time during that evening's game cheering for the Tutshill Tornadoes over Puddlemere United made Ally grind her teeth together.

"Although now I'm second-guessing coming with Vic and Teddy because they made me come here _so_ bloody early-" Dom began her argument again.

"It's not that early," Victoire interrupted her sister, "And it's fun being able to talk to everyone before the game starts!"

The door of the large box seating area opened again and Malcolm Wood entered the room along with a short women who had very blonde hair and who was wearing surprisingly expensive shoes for an evening of quidditch game viewing.

Malcolm Wood was an age contemporary of Teddy, and the two had been best mates since they were younger. They had both been in Gryffindor house at Hogwarts and the two were hardly ever seen without the other in their younger years. Malcolm Wood was one of Cecilia and Xavier's many cousins on their father's side, and he was the youngest cousin and was closest in age to them, as their father Oliver was himself the youngest of all of his siblings and as such had the youngest children of all of the Woods.

Malcolm Wood was also presently in a relationship with Puddlemere United's starting centre chaser Nadia Cassano, so when he wasn't away on work –he was a freelance writer for many different magazines– he could be found attending almost every Puddlemere game, sitting right next to Ally as the both of them cheered for their respective partners.

At the moment, there was a slight twitch in Malcolm's left eye as he tried to think of a way to politely extricate himself from the she-demon he somehow got stuck talking to as he entered the stadium and made his way to his seat.

"So then I told Daddy that . . ."

Malcolm's eye twitch seemed to be a side effect of him suppressing a series of eye rolls as he tried to keep a neutral expression on his face as he listened to the woman's inane and self-centred chatter.

"Should we save Malcolm from Miss Richy-Rich?" Dom asked her family idly as she obtrusively pointed towards where Malcolm was still stuck listening to a monologue which was being presented with extra flourish by Giavanna Tracey-Mullin.

Ally let out a long suffering sigh, "It would be the nice thing to do."

There was a quiet pause as the group of them thought about whether they should do the _nice_ thing or if they should keep themselves under Giavanna's radar to avoid also possibly getting stuck talking to her themselves.

Giavanna Tracey-Mullin was an _interesting _person. She was the only child of the incredibly wealthy owner of Puddlemere United's quidditch team, Garrick Tracey; and she married Puddlemere's second-string seeker turned starting seeker Christopher Mullin two and a half years ago.

Before her marriage, Giavanna fancied Xavier and they even went on a date during a point in Ally and Xavier's relationship where they had broken up for six months. The first date abruptly ended with Xavier vomiting all over Giavanna because he had the flu, and that had ended whatever attraction she felt for him.

Giavanna was a spoiled woman who was used to getting everything she wanted from a very young age, which is how her fiancé-turned-husband was quickly promoted to starting seeker on the team her father owned just around the time of their marriage. Ally and the others weren't the biggest fans of Giavanna; and they had also weren't fond of her husband, Christopher Mullin, either as Victoire and Xavier specifically had had a serious falling out with Chris during their last year at Hogwarts despite the fact that they had been friends and housemates since their first year.

"Hey Malcolm!" Teddy called to get the attention of his best mate, making the decision about doing the _nice thing_ for everyone else, "We saved you a seat."

Malcolm's face automatically relaxed when he spotted Teddy and the others, and even though Malcolm did force out some sort of farewell to Giavanna as he slowly side-stepped away from her, she ended up following behind him as he made his way over to the others.

After tossing out a quick greeting to his cousins and friends, he pulled Teddy into a tight man-hug and whispered a relieved thank-you into the metamorphmagus's ear.

"Hello everyone," Giavanna greeted the group even though there was a pinch of distaste in her face. The feeling of antipathy between her and everyone else was mutual, "Lovely evening isn't it?"

"It will be if the rain holds off," Ally replied politely.

Giavanna started to tap the toe of her high-heeled shoe against the floor, "It's hard to believe that there's only a few months left of the quidditch season."

"Yeah," Ally agreed blandly with a nod.

"It's too bad that the season is ending so soon, Chris'll probably be under my feet at home now since he won't know what to do with his extra free time," Giavanna announced with a not-so-affectionate eye roll at the mention of her husband.

Ally held in an eye roll of her own, "I'm quite excited for Xavier to be free for almost three months, especially since the break occurs just before our wedding and after it. There will be a lot to get done in those few months, and the timing of our wedding actually allows us to take an actual vacation for our honeymoon."

"How long were you able to convince Xavier to go without off season practicing for?" Victoire asked Ally curiously.

"Two weeks, although I did convince him that he could keep up his cardio and basic strength training without it putting too much of a damper on our vacation," Ally replied.

Teddy whistled impressed, "How did you manage that? I had to go behind Vic's back and talk to Cassidy Hopewell and Wesley Hall about taking over her shifts for two weeks _before_ she even started discussing it with the head of her ward so that they'd be able to convince her that taking two weeks off for our honeymoon wouldn't be the end of the world."

Ally snickered, "It was actually rather easy to convince Xavier, _I'm_ impressed that you were able to get Vic to take two weeks off in a row without causing at least a month of arguing though."

"It only took a week, but I did get the concession that I would be available for owl or muggle phone consultations during our honeymoon," Victoire added with a sly smile.

"Did Healer Seward demand that or . . ."

"I came up with it," The blonde healer piped up.

Dom rolled her eyes at her work-aholic big sister, "Of course you did."

"So Giavanna," Cecilia addressed the other woman who was still there for some reason, "How's your daughter doing?"

Instead of her face lighting up at the mention of her one-year-old daughter like most mothers, Giavanna let out an exasperated exhale and pinched the bridge of her nose, "She's still not sleeping through the night, or so her night-nurse tells me, but she doesn't seem the worse for wear when I see her at breakfast in the morning. She's a little cranky by dinner time though, so I've been cutting that time short and sending her to bed earlier."

"What time have you been putting her down for the night?" Cecilia asked the question before she could think better of it.

"I hand her off to the night nurse so she can go down for six," Giavanna explained with a longsuffering sigh.

"Have you ever considered keeping her up a little later so that she's more tired when she goes down to sleep? My friend Eliza did that with her daughter when she was having trouble sleeping throughout the night," Cecilia suggested helpfully.

Giavanna rolled her eyes, "She'll adjust to the schedule I've set for her at some point. I've spent enough money on nannies and night-nurses that they should be able to get her to sleep and eat when I need her to."

"The joys of parenthood," Malcolm muttered sarcastically but with a deadpanned expression that Giavanna had a hard time distinguishing.

"I of course love her to pieces, but I'd be able to love her a little bit better if she was less cranky when I'm around her," Giavanna said with a bright smile that didn't quite reach her eyes.

Nobody else had much to say to her as they wanted to let the subject drop in hopes that Giavanna would get bored with their silence and then leave them alone, and after a few awkward minutes of Giavanna glancing between Malcolm and Ally, the daughter of Puddlemere's owner turned her back on the group and teetered away on her high-heels.

When she was out of earshot Dom glanced at the adults of the group, "That poor, poor child."

Malcolm nodded with a sad sigh, "That baby doesn't deserve to have that woman and her _husband _as her parents."

"No child deserves that," Victoire replied with a roll of her own eyes.

"No child deserves what?" Molly Weasley repeated curiously as she popped up in between her two eldest cousins.

Molly was a gentle and quiet soul –expecting the times she became riled up as she watched the Tornadoes play quidditch– so it didn't surprise Victoire too much to find that Molly had snuck into the box and up to the group without them first noticing it.

The group quietly greeted Molly, but the new arrival repeated her question, "So what does no child deserve?"

"To have Christopher Mullin and Giavanna Tracey as her parents," Dom explained.

Molly pursed her lips, "Are you debating on reporting them to child services again for their atrocious inability to name their daughter something appropriate?"

"Casey isn't a bad name for a baby girl," Louis replied even though he wasn't quite sure why he was defending Chris Mullin and Giavanna Tracey.

Dom snorted mockingly, "The name Casey isn't bad, it's how Giavanna decided to spell it that is going get the poor child bullied for the more formative years of her life."

Giavanna Tracey had safely delivered a healthy baby girl a year ago, and she told her husband and family that she had the perfect name for her beautiful angel. The baby's father and Giavanna's husband Chris Mullin had agreed right away to the name Casey, he liked the sound of it, and it seemed to fit the pudgy baby he held in his arms. It wasn't until Giavanna had filled out their daughter's birth certificate in permanent ink that Chris realized that Giavanna had decided to jump on the trend of spelling more general baby names _uniquely_.

Baby Casey Mullin was actually Baby Que-eh**sí** Giavanna Mullin. When Ally had first read the name written out –in a birth announcement that Giavanna had sent out to every member of her husband's team no less– she thought that she might be having a stroke. Xavier confirmed for her that there was nothing wrong with her brain or her eyesight, and the next time she saw Giavanna Tracey-Mullin, Ally very delicately asked Giavanna exactly how she wanted her daughter's name pronounced. It wasn't until Chris had red-facedly explained that their daughter's name was Casey, that Ally realized the horror the little girl would have to go through for the rest of her life. Giavanna had explained that Que-ehsí was spelt that way since '_que_' in French was pronounced like 'kuh', and that at the end sí was supposed to be pronounced like 'sí' or 'yes' in Spanish. She had also decided that the middle letters of 'eh' were supposed to be pronounced like a long 'ay' sound, which is how Giavanna decided that Que-ehsí would be a proper way to spell the name that was often spelt like 'Casey'.

Giavanna seemed to be the only one who thought that Que-ehsí was an appropriate alternate spelling for the name she gave her daughter, but no one else was brave enough to tell her that her naming and spelling abilities were appalling.

Well no one but Nadia Cassano, would have told Giavanna to her face the grave mistake she'd made when naming her daughter, if Nadia's boyfriend and teammates hadn't physically held her back each time she tried.

The conversation eventually drifted away from Giavanna's horrible baby-naming skills and towards a more pertinent discussion about quidditch and whether or not Puddlemere or the Tornadoes were going to come out as the winner of the game. While Ally and Molly hotly debated each other, Ally obviously pleading Puddlemere's case while Molly argued on behalf of her favourite team, a few of the others threw in their own opinions and statistics just to further the argument. Malcolm decided to play devil's advocate and reminded Ally that the Tornadoes seeker had a better percentage of catching the snitch quicker in the game than Puddlemere's seeker, and even though Ally knew that Malcolm would never actually cheer for a team opposing his girlfriend's team, it was still enough to rile her up.

While Dom, Cecilia, and Louis teased Ally about how red her face was getting as she argued with Molly and Malcolm, Victoire glanced at Teddy and pressed a quick kiss to his jaw.

Teddy raised a questioning eyebrow at her while he placed his hand on her knee and squeezed, "What was that for?"

"I'm just happy right now . . . here with them, and with you," She told him softly.

He smiled gently at her, "Well I'm glad to hear that I'm still a contributing factor to your happiness."

"You always have been," Victoire reminded him with shinning blue eyes.

Teddy leaned forward and pressed a kiss of his own to the lightly freckled bridge of Victoire's nose, "And I can't imagine what my life would be like if I never had you in it."

"I love you," She told him with a tender smile.

He locked his sapphire blues eyes with her ocean blue ones, "And I love you."

"I love you too Vic!" A cheery voice piped up, unintentionally interrupting their attempt to share a kiss.

Victoire and Teddy turned their heads to find Brogan standing in front of them, he had wandered over to where they were sitting after getting bored listening to everyone else try to rile Ally up.

Brogan was giving Victoire the most endearing look a five-year-old child could conjure up, and she opened her arms up to allow him to give her a hug and cuddle into her.

"I love you too Baby Boy," Victoire told him with a smile. Baby Boy had been her nickname for Brogan ever since he _was_ a baby, and even though he was at the age where he wanted to seem as mature as he could, he still allowed Victoire to call him by the nickname.

Brogan frowned a little as he glanced from her to Teddy, and then back to her, "But you love Teddy too?"

"I love the both of you," She explained sweetly but firmly.

When Victoire and Teddy had gotten engaged two years previously, Brogan had just turned four-years-old. Oliver and Katie tried to explain to their youngest what the term 'engaged' meant by saying that Victoire was going to get married. Before they could finish their sentence and say 'to Teddy' though, Brogan had interrupted them and asked 'to me?' in such an excited and innocent tone of voice that nobody immediately wanted to burst the little boy's bubble and explain to him that Victoire _couldn't_ marry him.

It was eventually explained to Brogan that he was too young to marry Victoire, but despite the gentle explanations his parents and even Victoire and Teddy had given the boy, Brogan was still enthralled with Victoire and to that day he still had a huge crush on her.

"And you're marrying Teddy," Brogan added with a bit of a pout. His words came out blandly robotically, which made it apparent that Brogan had memorized those words after hearing them many times in the past few years.

Victoire reached out and tapped her index finger on the tip of Brogan's nose, "And I'm marrying Teddy because I love him and he loves me, and because _he's_ old enough to marry me."

Brogan's frown didn't entirely disappear, but when he was no longer completely scowling Teddy grabbed the six-year-old around the waist and pulled him onto his lap.

"I promise to take very good care of Vic," Teddy assured Brogan as he pulled the boy into a tight hug that Brogan had a hard time _not_ melting into.

"And one day, when you're much older, you'll find a person who you will come to love more than you've ever loved anyone before. More than you love me even, and when that happens it will be my turn to frown and to pout, and to make that person promise that they will love you and take care of you for the rest of their life," Victoire told Brogan gently.

Brogan nodded his head seriously and then glanced between Victoire and Teddy, "I can still come to the wedding?"

"Of course you can still come to the wedding!" Teddy told Brogan as he squeezed his arms around him again into another hug. Brogan allowed it this time.

Victoire pressed a kiss to the top of the little boy's dirty-blonde hair –hair that was the same colour as his older brother's and father's– and she smiled at him, "You're our ring-bearer Bro, you know that. You get to walk down the aisle just like you did a few years ago at Sandra and Kyle's wedding, do you remember that?"

Brogan nodded his head energetically.

"And you have a very important job at that, you get to carry our rings down the aisle, and you also get to help Rowan down the aisle," Teddy reminded the boy with a small chuckle.

While five-year-old Brogan Wood had agreed to be the ring-bearer for Victoire and Teddy's wedding at the end of June, Victoire had asked Eliza Parker if her not-quite-two-years-old yet daughter Rowan Parker-Dickinson would be the flower girl. Despite Rowan still being a young toddler and not quite two-year-old yet as her birthday was in August, she was a well behaved little girl who had started walking early and was already rather steady on her feet. Victoire and Teddy had no qualms about having the relatively young Rowan as their flower girl, especially since she would be walking down the aisle with Brogan who was much older than her and who had experience being a ring-bearer before.

Brogan finally gave Victoire and Teddy a bright smile as he remembered how excited he was to be a part of their upcoming wedding, and he rested his head on Teddy's shoulder.

Not five minutes later Katie Bell-Wood entered the box and immediately strode over to where Victoire and Teddy were sitting with her youngest child.

"Victoire I need to borrow you for a few moments," Katie explained in a no-nonsense tone.

Victoire could see that there was some tension in her body, and she quickly told Teddy and Brogan that she'd be 'right back' before she followed Katie out of the box and into one of the stadium's hallways. As Victoire followed Katie she began to question her on what she needed her for.

"Nadia's been vomiting for the past half hour," Katie explained in a quiet tone as they passed by crowds of people who were starting to make their way to their seats. The game was to start in twenty minutes.

"Where are your team's medical personnel?" Victoire asked. She had completed a few months' residency during her time at healing school working with Puddlemere United's medi-witch Claudia and medi-wizard Steven.

"Claudia didn't come into work today because she's ill, and Steven is busy with the team's reserve centre chaser Hawthorne. He came into the stadium early this morning to work out and ended up getting hit in the head by an errant piece of weight-lifting equipment. Coach Bissenette thinks Hawthorne might have a concussion," Katie expounded as she led Victoire through a security guarded door and into the restricted team area of the stadium.

It took them just a few minutes to get to the area that held the main team's locker rooms, and Katie held open the door to the women's locker room that only Nadia used since she was the only female member of Puddlemere's starting team. The locker room seemed empty at first, but Victoire quickly noticed the sound of retching coming from the area of the room that held an enclosed bathroom space.

Before Victoire could get to the bathroom, Nadia stumbled out with a rather green complexion. The starting centre chaser's short dark hair was pulled back by a thick elastic athletic headband, and Nadia was already dressed in her uniform for the game that day. Her face was a sickly pale-green in colour and she looked a little shaky. She blinked in surprise at Victoire's sudden presence, but she realized pretty quickly that Katie must have gone to find her after she couldn't get a hold of Steven. Nadia sat down heavily on the bench in the middle of locker room and started to take a few deeps breaths as she felt another roll of nausea cycle through her stomach.

"Steven's assessing Hawthorne so I grabbed Victoire to come take a look at you," Katie needlessly explained to Nadia.

Nadia swallowed thickly and groaned, "I'm fine . . . just a touch of food poisoning is all."

"Please tell me that you did not eat Malcolm's _famous_ mincemeat pie," Victoire sarcastically asked Nadia with a roll of her eyes as she sat down next to the centre chaser on the bench.

Nadia scoffed and then muttered in Italian, "_Manache_ no! Ever since he first made that for me years ago I made him swear to never ever cook that again."

"Then what did you eat that might have given you food poisoning?" Victoire asked curiously.

The taller woman frowned and spent a few minutes thinking, "I don't know . . . Malcolm ate everything I ate yesterday and he's not ill."

"Could I run a few diagnostic tests on you then? Just to check and see if it _is_ food poisoning or maybe the flu? They have similar symptoms sometimes but are treated very differently," Victoire told Nadia.

Nadia let out a sigh but she slowly nodded her head. She wanted to get better as quickly as possible because she _did_ have a game to play in that was about to start in fifteen minutes.

Victoire started professionally asking Nadia questions about fevers, stomach cramps, and shivers in between waving her wand and casting different wordless diagnostic spells on the chaser. The healer was going through a mental list of standard diagnostic spells that were pretty much reflex to cast at that point. She had just cast a spell that sent out a bright flash of light towards Nadia's stomach when, instead of the light being absorbed by Nadia's body, it bounced off of her abdomen and flew back towards Victoire, who was grossly unprepared for the ricochet.

The energy from the spell flew past Victoire's head and slammed against the locker behind her. It bounced off the locker and immediately set out to ricochet off another part of the room when Katie stepped forward and waved her wand to absorb the excess magical energy.

As she did so she glanced at Victoire with a startled expression, "Was that-"

Victoire gazed at the older woman with wide eyes of her own and silently nodded her head, "Yes." It didn't surprise Victoire that Katie, a mother of three children, recognized the spell she had cast on Nadia. It was intended as part of the normal battery of diagnostic spells she was trying out on Nadia to get to the bottom of her illness, but Victoire didn't expect _that _diagnostic test to reply the way it had.

Katie's expression was still dazed, but she nodded in reply to Victoire and then quietly excused herself from the locker room, leaving Victoire and Nadia alone.

"Wha-" Nadia attempted to ask as Katie practically sprinted out of the room. She couldn't finish her question before Victoire began intently asking even more questions about her health.

"Nadia, when was your last menstrual cycle?"

Nadia gave Victoire a look that said that she was puzzled by the sudden question, and she replied quickly, "Last month."

Victoire pursed her lips, "Was it exactly a month ago?"

Nadia narrowed her eyes at the healer, "Yeah I guess. I'm about five days overdue for my next one and-"

"Your period is five days late?" Victoire repeated sharply.

"About that, yeah."

"And you don't think that's . . . significant?" Victoire asked slowly.

Nadia shrugged, "I'm usually a few days off. I've never been really regular, it always comes at some point."

Victoire swallowed thickly and then glanced at Nadia sympathetically, "Nadia, you don't have a fever which would indicate the flu, and you haven't been having body aches or stomach aches which would indicate food poisoning."

"So why do you think I've been vomiting then?"

"Have you been feeling weird in any other ways? Dizziness?"

Nadia shook her head.

"Bloating?"

"Well yeah, but as I've established it_ is_ that time of the month-"

Victoire sighed heavily and inquired, "Abnormal breast tenderness?"

Nadia frowned, "Actually yes."

"Well," Victoire began as she took a deep breath, "That's not surprising because the spell I cast on you before Katie left was a pregnancy detecting spell . . . and when the spell ricocheted off of you and into the locker it was a sign that the test came out positive."

Nadia's complexion was verging towards a darker shade of green, "_What?_"

"I'd recommend another test by an obstetric healer of course, but the spell I cast on you is reliable, and it came out as strongly positive," Victoire explained in her healer voice, "Nadia you're pregnant."

The chaser's skin went even greener and she jumped off the bench and sprinted towards the bathroom and the closest toilet. She got there just in time to start vomiting again, but since she had already been throwing up for almost a whole hour there wasn't anything left in her stomach to come up. She spent several moments dry heaving while Victoire knelt down next to her and soothingly rubbed her back.

When Nadia finally stopped she moved away from the toilet and leaned her head against the wall to her immediate right. She took a deep breath and glanced at Victoire, "I can't be pregnant."

"Have you had sexual intercourse since your last period?" Victoire asked her professionally.

"Yes but-"

"Have you been using contraceptives while you've been sexually active?"

Nadia started nodding her head hastily even though it made her stomach start to churn again, "Yes of course!"

"Every time?"

"_Yes_."

Victoire took a deep breath, "What kind have you been using?"

"I cast a contraceptive spell each and every time Malcolm and I have sex," Nadia asserted insistently.

The blonde healer pursed her lips, "Is that the only contraception you use?"

"Yes . . . hormonal contraceptive potions and I don't really mix well," Nadia admitted.

Victoire patted Nadia's hand, "That's understandable . . . but are contraceptive spells the only thing you use?"

"Yes."

"And did you say that you're always the one who casts the spell?" Victoire asked.

Nadia snorted, "Yes, like I'm gonna trust Malcolm with something as important as _that _in the heat of the moment. Idiot gets rather absentminded when he gets distracted like that."

"And you're sure that _you_ always use the spell?"

"Always," Nadia repeated resolutely, "I even cast it when-" Her eyes went wide and her face went green again as she swallowed thickly, "When we've been drinking because usually Malcolm's the one who's most inebriated."

Victoire nodded but Nadia started talking again, her voice cracking as she spoke, "Except for that one _maledizione_ time a few weeks ago when we got back from brunch at Eilionoir's and I drank three-quarters of a bottle of firewhisky. Unfortunately I recall Malcolm taking the lead when it came to spells that time because I was more than a little tipsy."

"Why'd you drink three-quarters of a bottle of firewhisky?" Victoire asked curiously.

Nadia pinched the bridge of her nose, "Because Eilionoir spent almost the entirety of brunch berating Malcolm for the fact that his younger cousin –a. k. a. Xavier– is getting married before him."

Hearing that didn't surprise Victoire. Eilionoir Wood –Oliver Wood's mother and the blunt matriarch of the large Wood family– was a woman who could drive even the most sober person to drink. Malcolm, Xavier, and Cecilia's grandmother had strong opinions on just about everything, and she had several children and dozens of grandchildren to try to impose those opinions on. The semi-regular Wood family brunches at Eilionoir's home usually involved at least one grandchild storming out of the house in a fury after being antagonized by the matriarch for several hours straight. The incident that Nadia was referring to ended with Malcolm storming out of the house –Nadia following after him like a good girlfriend– and the pair arriving back at Malcolm's house with enough time left in the day for them to get reasonably drunk.

"So you think that it's possible that you could have gotten pregnant at that time?" Victoire asked her.

Nadia put her face in her hands, "Well it wouldn't surprise me that Stupid Malcolm cast the stupid spell wrong."

Victoire placed her arm over Nadia's shoulder and pulled the other woman towards her to give her a hug, "Want to go find Stupid Malcolm and tell him the news?"

Nadia felt her eyes start to water, and her heart started to ache with longing as she thought about her loving but definitely _stupid_ boyfriend, "Yeah."

The two stood up from the floor so that they could walk back into the locker room, before they could move towards the exit of the locker room however, the door opened and Katie walked back into the room with Malcolm, and oddly enough Teddy, at her heels.

Malcolm and Teddy seemed to be confused as to why Katie had brought them to Nadia's locker room, so they were quiet as Katie explained to Nadia that she had arranged with the other coaches to get a reserve player to play for her in the game that evening.

"But Hawthorne is the reserve centre chaser and I thought Steven was treating him for a concussion?" Nadia asked Katie worriedly.

Katie nodded her head and bit her lip, "Steven is, and Hawthorne does have a concussion. Which is why in five minutes James is going to be playing centre chaser."

Nadia blinked, "Potter plays _right wing_ chaser."

"Beggars can't be choosers, and between James and the left wing reserve chaser they're our only other options for tonight," Katie reminded her.

Victoire crossed her arms over her chest, "And you gave the spot to James?"

"He's the best of the two of them, he's actually the best of the three of them so I'm sure that he'll adapt the best he can to centre chaser for tonight," Katie replied. She didn't sound too worried about it.

Malcolm glanced at his aunt in confusion, "Wait . . . why isn't Nadia playing tonight?"

"I've been vomiting for the past hour," Nadia admitted to Malcolm as she unsteadily sat down on the bench in the centre of the room.

Malcolm strode over to Nadia immediately and sat down next to her, "Oh Babe I'm so sorry, do you have the flu?" He lifted his hand up and patted his girlfriend's forehead and cheeks to see if she had a fever or if she felt clammy.

"No," Nadia exclaimed quickly as she exasperatedly batted Malcolm's hands away from her face, "I don't have the flu."

Malcolm frowned, "Then why have you been tossing your cookies?"

Nadia's face turned green again, but it was hard to tell if it was because of the mention of her vomiting or because of what she was about to disclose, "Because I'm pregnant."

Malcolm froze as the words took a few moments to penetrate his thick head, and Nadia stared at him in silence until her stomach did a complete three-sixty twist and she started to gag. Victoire instantly conjured up a small rubbish bin and she pushed it into Nadia's hands before she could throw up on her own feet. The bin got into Nadia's hands right in time for her to vomit up some stomach bile, the liquid the only thing left in her stomach after the long hour of retching.

Victoire patted Nadia's back comfortingly while Malcolm did an excellent impression of a muggle statue. The sound of Nadia's gaging and coughing quieted a bit after a few moments and then Malcolm slowly blinked as his brain started to work again. His harried brown eyes glanced from Nadia, to Victoire, and then back to Nadia even though his next question was clearly addressed to Victoire.

"Are you sure that she's pregnant? Because it's not exactly like obstetrics is your specialty . . ."

The healer sighed and put one hand on her hip as she looked at her fiancé's best mate with a raised eyebrow, "You're right Malcolm, obstetrics isn't my specialty. _My _healing specialty is the hardest most difficult healing specialty to get certified in because it takes a lot of education and magical ability to heal and reverse the darkest magic wizard-kind can create and inflict upon each other; and because of this I can _assure_ you that my ability to cast a pregnancy detecting spell is one-hundred percent effective."

Malcolm swallowed thickly while Nadia lifted her head out of the rubbish bin. Victoire took the bin from Nadia and vanished its contents. Malcolm slipped off of the bench and knelt down on the floor in front of Nadia and he took both of her slightly shaking hands in his, also rather shaky, hands.

"We're having a baby?" He said to her, his voice going up at the end and turning what should have been a serious statement into a slightly bewildered question.

Nadia met his gaze and her eyes started to water again, "We're having a baby."

Hearing her shaky voice confirm it caused a small smile spread across Malcolm's lips and he let go of Nadia's hands so that he could wrap his arms around her and pull her into a tight embrace.

Malcolm ran his hands comfortingly up and down Nadia's back as he blurted out, "I don't know anything about babies."

Nadia pulled back a little and met his gaze again, she reached a hand up to cup Malcolm's cheek, "Me either."

Both their eyes had started to leak tears, but from Victoire's vantage point the tears seemed to stem from happiness instead of despair. Victoire took a few steps back to give the couple a bit of space, and she ended up backing right into Teddy's chest. She turned and glanced up at him while he wrapped his arm around her waist to steady her.

"Why're you here?"

Teddy smiled softly at her, "Katie came to get Malcolm, obviously, and just before they walked out of the box she walked back to me and said that it might be helpful if I came too."

Victoire glanced from her fiancé to where Malcolm was kneeling with Nadia in his arms, "She was probably worried about how Malcolm might take the news. Must have thought that having his best mate here might help him."

Teddy nodded and glanced at Nadia and Malcolm as well, his fingers unintentionally tightened on Victoire's waist as he watched the pair start to whisper to each other.

"I love you," Malcolm told Nadia softly but earnestly, his expression still rather dazed from the life changing bombshell that had just been dropped on them.

"I love you too," Nadia replied. Her tone was soft but her eyes soon took on a hard edge, "But I'm not going to marry you."

Malcolm stared at her, his mouth open wide in bewilderment, "Uh . . . did I ask you to marry me? Because I don't remember saying those words-"

"You didn't," Nadia agreed with a nod, "And you're not going to. I don't care what your grandmother, your parents, or even _my_ parents will say, I'm not going to marry you just because I'm pregnant."

Malcolm licked his lips and nodded his head slowly, "Noted."

Victoire, Teddy, and Katie –who was still standing quietly and unobtrusively in the room– shared a few confused looks at the sudden change in direction of the conversation and newly developed tension.

"_Um_, so for future reference though . . . is this moratorium on marriage just while you're pregnant or, like, for forever?" Malcolm asked his girlfriend hesitantly and still perplexedly.

Nadia gave him a sudden fierce look, "I do not want to marry you just because I'm pregnant and outdated societal norms says that we should. That is _not _how I want to start a marriage."

"But you _do_ want to get married when you're not pregnant?" Malcolm asked a little less hesitant but still really confused-sounding.

Nadia placed her hands on either side of her boyfriend's face, "No marriage talk until much, _much_ further notice. Got it?"

"Got it."

She nodded approvingly and then frowned as she stared at his face, his expression had quickly changed to one of intense concentration, "What are you thinking?"

Malcolm blinked, "About the fact that I'm going to have to give up on my free-lance writing days for the foreseeable future and talk to an editor about getting a full time writing position that I can do from here in England."

"Why?" Nadia asked him, her eyes narrowing suspiciously at him.

"Because with a baby on the way I'll need to spend much more time here at home in the future than I have been now," Malcolm replied as if it was obvious.

Nadia stared at him, her expression suddenly angry, "What about me? Do you expect me to be _at home_ more often now too because we're having a baby?"

He frowned at her emphasis on the words 'at home'. Even though Malcolm did own his own home, Nadia didn't officially live with him. She still lived in her flat at the Puddlemere United team apartment complex, even though she spent most of her time at Malcolm's when he was _at home_ and not in some other country on assignment writing an article.

"Why would I expect that? I figured that you'd want to get back to playing quidditch once you're cleared after the baby is born, so if I'm no longer travelling to different parts of the world every few weeks it will be easier for me to bring the baby along with us when you have away games," Malcolm explained even though he was confused by Nadia's unexpectedly angry expression.

She pursed her lips, a bit of the heat in her eyes dying out, "So you don't expect me to give up playing quidditch after the baby's born?"

"No," Malcolm blurted out quickly, his tone going back to one of confusion, "Why would I expect that?"

"Some people might say that once a woman has a baby, quidditch is no longer a responsible occupation for her," Nadia muttered irritated.

Malcolm rolled his eyes, "And those people are arseholes. I might be a jerk sometimes but I don't think I'm _that _much of an arsehole."

Her eyes softened completely this time and she smiled at him, "You're not . . . I just–it just occurred to me that a lot of women don't go back to playing quidditch after they have kids and that thought scared me because I'm afraid that that's what _people_ are going to expect from me and–and I feel like my emotions are everywhere and I don't know why-"

"It's the pregnancy," Victoire added helpfully from a few metres away, "Mood swings are a common symptom."

Nadia pinched the bridge of her nose, "_Cazzo_ this is going to be a long pregnancy."

"Another eight months at least," Victoire reminded them with a nod of her head.

Malcolm and Nadia looked into each other's eyes and he slowly leaned forward to press a gentle kiss to her lips, "And I am going to be by your side for the entire thing."

She smiled lovingly at him but then a thought came to her that was slightly horrifying, "That's figurative right? Because if you're going to be under my feet for the next eight months we're going to have a whole new set of problems."

"You should listen to her Malcolm, I almost maimed your Uncle Oliver on several occasions while I was pregnant with all three of your cousins," Katie remarked helpfully from her spot in the room.

Malcolm swallowed thickly and then glanced at Nadia, she was looking at Victoire, "Know any good obstetricians who will be able to keep my identity confidential and who are willing to make house calls? I think a visit to St. Mungo's would attract the attention and scrutiny of the press more than I'd like."

"I know just the bloke if you think you'd be comfortable with a male obstetrician," Victoire told Nadia.

Nadia raised an eyebrow at her, "Would you trust this guy with your uterus?"

"I have in the past actually," Victoire admitted with an easy shrug.

Nadia shrugged her shoulders as well, "Alright then."

Malcolm helped Nadia to her feet and Katie paced over to the couple to pull them into a tight group hug, "You two are going to have a baby!"

Nadia laughed at Katie's enthusiasm, but she was glad to see that her mentor –who also happened to be Malcolm's favourite aunt– was being so supportive about her surprise pregnancy. Katie dropped her arms from around the pair and then she raised her hand to unceremoniously and unexpectedly smack Malcolm across the back of his head.

"_Ow_! What was that for Aunt Katie?" Malcolm asked with a pout as he rubbed the now sore spot on the back of his head.

"_That_ was for impregnating my star chaser. Nadia can't play quidditch for ten months now," Katie told her nephew sternly and with a bit of a glare.

Malcolm looked down at his feet and muttered something about how 'it takes two to tango', but when Katie asked him to repeat it in a louder volume he wisely abstained.

Victoire and Teddy then stepped up to Nadia and Malcolm to officially congratulate the couple on their pregnancy, and Teddy felt Malcolm squeeze him almost too tightly in a hug while Victoire gave the still-slightly nauseas Nadia a gentle embrace.

"I have no bloody idea what I'm going to do," Malcolm confessed in a stressful whisper to Teddy as he clutched his best mate to him.

Teddy felt a slight pang of something akin to jealousy at the reminder that Malcolm was already well on his way to having a baby before the year was out, but he shook it off and hugged Malcolm back just as tightly as he quietly spoke into his friend's ear, "That's what your family and friends are for."

Malcolm smiled thankfully at his friend, but then he let Teddy go and moved back to Nadia's side so that he could get a head start on getting under her feet and treating her like a glass doll since he now knew that she was carrying precious cargo.

Victoire walked over to Teddy and wrapped her arms around him while Katie began to ask Nadia about when she would feel comfortable arranging a meeting with the team's head coaches and publicists to discuss taking the next nine months off and publicly announcing her pregnancy. It was a hard rule within every professional quidditch league that players would stop playing quidditch and take time off the minute they discovered that they were pregnant. The rule was created for the safety of both the player and the unborn child, so nobody really argued with it.

"So Nadia and Malcolm are going to have a baby . . ." Victoire whispered to Teddy as she watched the still-dazed expressions on the couple's faces.

"As are Jilly and Caleb and Colton and Anastasia," Teddy mused quietly.

She swallowed thickly, "That makes three of our friends who are going to have babies."

"Did you just admit that Colton's your friend?" He questioned her with a raised eyebrow.

His fiancée ignored him in favour of giving him a _very_ serious look, "If I get pregnant within the next six months our child will be going to Hogwarts with Malcolm, your best mate's, child."

Teddy smiled brightly and rested his forehead against hers, "Oh trust me, I already did the math on that."

Victoire's gaze moved from him over to Nadia and Malcolm, "It is bad that I'm a little jealous of them?"

"Jealous of their apparent inability to use contraception properly and their consequent unplanned pregnancy?" He asked with a sardonic expression.

"Yes."

Teddy pressed a kiss to Victoire's head, "No it's not bad. To be honest I'm a little jealous of them myself, and of Jilly and Caleb as well actually."

"At least I'm not the only one," Victoire said with a sigh as she watched Nadia –who must have been in the middle of another mini mood-swing– threaten Malcolm over something trivial that Katie was freely laughing at.

There was a sudden knock on the locker room door before it slowly opened. Oliver Wood's head peaked into the room through the slight opening of the door, but he had a hand covering his eyes because he didn't know what he was going find in in Nadia's locker room.

"_Uh_ . . . Katie are you in here?" Oliver asked the room that he was blind to.

Katie rolled her eyes at her husband even though he couldn't see her, "Yes I'm here Oliver, and you can look, it's fine."

Oliver removed his hand from his face and stepped fully into the room as his gaze scanned the locker room's occupants. He pursed his lips when his gaze drifted past Victoire and Teddy, but they stopped on Nadia, Malcolm, and Katie.

"I know you said that Nadia's relatively fine, but the game's been on for twenty minutes already and I thought I'd hear something else by now," Oliver said specifically to Katie. He glanced at Nadia next, "How are you feeling? Do you need to go to the hospital?"

Nadia shook her head, "No, Victoire's assured me that it's not fatal."

"Good," Oliver replied with a nod of his head, "I'm sure that Victoire has taken good care of you, but I can find Steven if you'd like our team's medi-wizard to examine you as well?"

Nadia's face went white at the suggestion, "No, Steven does _not_ need to examine me."

"Ollie," Katie addressed her husband as she walked to his side and placed a hand on his arm, "Nadia's not exactly _sick_."

Oliver's eyebrows narrowed over his eyes, "I thought you said she was throwing up?"

Katie glanced at Nadia, who nodded her head at the older woman, and then she looked back at her husband, "Nadia _was_ throwing up . . . Victoire discovered that it was morning sickness."

Oliver's eyes widened to the size of saucers and his neck cracked audibly as his head twisted around to look at Nadia and Malcolm.

"_Oh_."

He swallowed thickly and shoved his hands into the pockets of his trousers, "Umm . . . congratulations?"

Nadia blushed and avoided making eye contact with Oliver while Malcolm uncomfortably rubbed the back of his neck, "Uh . . . thanks Uncle Oliver?"

Katie rolled her eyes and squeezed her husband's arm, "And since Nadia is pregnant she will now be taking a nine month sabbatical from playing quidditch."

"Of course," Oliver agreed with a hasty nod of his head, he then glanced at his nephew with a look that was a mix of shock and pride, "You're going to be a father."

Malcolm's eyes widened in surprise at his uncle's words, "I – I hadn't thought of it like that yet."

Nadia raised an eyebrow at him, "I'm pregnant and you didn't realize that that would make you a father?"

"I didn't connect the dots right away okay?" Malcolm argued with a scowl.

Nadia rolled her eyes at him but stayed silent because it was obvious that Malcolm was on the verge of an existential crisis. It was starting sooner than she expected it to, but she had no doubt that both she and he would have a few more existential crises before the baby was born. She reached her hand out to him and he squeezed it tightly.

"I don't know how to be a father," Malcolm's voice was quiet but it was clearly audible to the otherwise silent occupants of the room.

Oliver strode over to Malcolm, put his hands on his nephew's shoulders, and made purposeful eye contact, "_Nobody_ knows how to be a father until their first child is born Malcolm. And even after that there is no one way to be a father. You _will_ figure it out, eventually. Together with Nadia you'll figure out how to be parents. You both will have the support of so many people who care about you in this. You'll figure it out, together and you'll do fine."

Malcolm nodded intently as he mulled over his uncle's words, and Nadia sent Oliver a thankful smile.

The expression on Katie's face said that she was impressed with Oliver's heartfelt words, and she smiled softly at her husband, "That was very sweet Oliver, and very truthful." She glanced at Malcolm and Nadia, "Oliver and I weren't even at the level of good parents until Brogan was born, I mean we were _okay_ parents by the time Cecilia was born, but those first few months of Xavier's life –the first few years actually– were _ridiculous_. I'm surprised that Xavier didn't end up being a serial killer or a drug addict or something."

Oliver glared at his wife but she continued, "It's _true_, especially since he spent so much time with your mother as a child. That alone should have been enough to drive him to alcohol abuse at an early age."

"My mother isn't-" Oliver wasn't able to finish his defense of his overbearing mother because of the series of _looks_ he was getting from Katie, Malcolm, Nadia, Victoire, _and_ Teddy.

"I think we're all grateful that Xavier survived into adulthood with nothing worse than an unhealthy addiction to quidditch," Victoire responded sagely.

Katie nodded in thanks, "And that's because children are resilient. You two don't need to worry about screwing up your kid too much, just do your best."

Malcolm and Nadia nodded in thanks for the advice.

"Oh, and limit the amount of time Eilionoir gets with the baby," Katie added seriously.

Malcolm nodded hastily, "Don't worry, we will."

* * *

**A/N:** Malcolm and Nadia are having a baby! Vic and Teddy are a little jealous, and Giavanna's horrible at naming children. Let me know how you thought about this chapter, and what your favourite part was!

**Next Update:** I'm going to say in three weeks because I'd like to err on the side of caution, if I finish it sooner I will update sooner though, so make sure that you're subscribed so that you can get updates right away!

**Next Chapter:** It's part one of Teddy's birthday, we get to see Victoire at work again and actually dealing with some patients. We will also finally see how Eliza and Rowan are going on almost two years later!

I want to heartily thank everyone for reading, following, favouriting, and especially reviewing!

BIG thanks to:

**loverloverlover, zalavi0309, carbo21, bookstar97, Guest (1), Kb215, petitecanard, zvc56, If I Could Dream, Josie, NicoleTheSmith, htennis, Saagarika, pointe15, ChrisfromSK, cjaben1, xXSlytherinQueenXx, Break This Spell626, fangirl5300, Guest (2), Izzy, Nobothersgiventoday, lovelyjello,** and** Gnool**.

**loverloverlover**: We'll see toddler Rowan in the next chapter! And my placement went very well, thank you.

**zalavi0309**: Think their baby fever is even worse now? ;) And thank you so much, I'm glad to hear that you enjoy the time you spend reading my writing.

**carbo21**: Excellent guess, although I went a little different with the name, what do you think?

**bookstar97**: Lots of Vic in this chapter! James does deserve a nice girl, but I wonder how he's going to go about finding one . . . Baxter does seem a little done with being a third wheel, and we will see Eliza in the next chapter.

**zvc56**: Don't worry, I'll love whatever you write in a review, I appreciate everyone who takes the time to do it!

**NicoleTheSmith**: Aww, that's so sweet!

**htennis**: It's nice to have you back!

**Saagarika**: Just a little reminder that Norah is a year younger than Freddie and James, and that she's the same age as Rose and Al, so she was still at Hogwarts for another year. We'll see Roan, Eliza, and Benjamin all in the next chapter.

**pointe15**: Don't worry, we've got lots more Baxter to see in this story!

**ChrisfromSK**: Louis and Cecilia's relationship has not seemed to change much on the surface no, but as this chapter alluded to, there may be some changes on the horizon. Wedding dress and tux shopping is over, and since I already wrote scenes about that for Sandra's wedding I didn't feel like trying to write another similar scene, however, there are usually several fittings before the clothes are ready for the big day, so I'm sure a few scenes from those might sneak in when we get closer to the wedding itself ;) Don't worry, there will be lots of wedding stuff left to read about, I'm just taking my time to consider how I want to write them so that they don't seem like a replay of Sandra and Kyle's scenes, I also want to add in some for Ally's wedding of course, so I want each to be unique but still conjure up the same feelings, if you know what I mean.

**cjaben1**: I won't make any promises yet about the club scenes, but I will say that I am very excited to finally write them because I have a lot of ideas for them.

**Break This Spell626**: Are those predictions or hopes? ;)

**fangirl5300**: It's like you were in my head, Bro's the ring-bearer and Rowan will be flower girl.

**Izzy**: Training the younger aurors will be a lot of fun! Cecilia is definitely still a boss, and as you can see from this chapter, Brogan's still adorable.

**Gnool**: I've never really added Luna Lovegood into the story before because I already have so many other characters and I've never found a real use for her yet in the story, but who knows, she might make a cameo at some point.

**I hope you all enjoyed this chapter,**

**PLEASE let me know what you thought about it in a review,**

**If you have any questions or concerns you can also let me know in a review or PM,**

**My next update will be after Canada Day and the Independence Day, so an early happy Canada Day to my fellow Canadians out there, and an early happy Fourth of July to my American readers,**

**Until Next time, DFTBA!**


	5. Potions and Pillow Fights

**A/N:** I AM SO SORRY EVERYONE!

I was super optimistic about being able to get up at 5:00 am, work an 8 hour day, do a few hours of homework at night, and then have the creative energy to write some chapters after that. Turns out that I didn't and I really overestimated my own abilities. Weekends have also been really busy, because I feel obliged to do more family things with the nice weather we've been having.

So, I hope that you enjoy this long-awaited chapter.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Harry Potter.

* * *

**Re-Cap:** It's been forever since we did this, so I'll try to remind you of the important points for this new chapter. Victoire and Ally found a weird increase in prescriptions for ministry subsidized wolfsbain. In the last story Benjamin broke up with his fiancee and told Eliza that he wanted to make things work between them.

* * *

**Potions and Pillow Fights**

**Saturday, April 20th 2024**

**12:26 PM**

Victoire was shovelling a spinach salad into her mouth as fast as she could without choking as she kept her eye on the clock on the far wall of St. Mungo's cafeteria.

"Are you even chewing your food?" Healer Spencer Green asked his blonde colleague as he ate his own spinach salad more circumspectly and with a trace of actual table manners that Victoire seemed to lack.

"A _wiffle_," Victoire said as she continued to heap the iron rich produce into her mouth.

Spencer, who Victoire had been friends with since healing school, knew Victoire well enough to understand that she was trying to say the words 'a little'.

"Can you even taste it?" Spencer asked her with his American accent that had softened after several years of living and working in England.

Victoire took a moment to swallow the rather large mouthful of green vegetables she had and then replied, "Not really. Which is for the best considering that it's filled with hidden cucumbers. Who puts cucumbers in a spinach salad?"

"Normal people," Her friend replied with an eye roll, "Well normal people who don't have a weird fear of them."

"I'm not afraid of them! They just taste awful," Victoire retorted with a face as she pushed the dark green leaves of the spinach around her bowl to try to uncover the hidden pieces of light green vegetable that she had been trying to avoid eating.

Spencer smirked, "So are you one of those people who gives the serves as restaurants complicated orders so that they don't have to eat anything that's touched a food you don't like?"

"_No_," Victoire replied as she stabbed a few pieces of spinach –minus any concealed cucumber slices, "Teddy just usually eats all my cucumber slices for me."

He snickered, "Of course Prince Charming does that for you."

Victoire pouted after she finished chewing her last bite, "And he's at home enjoying some well-deserved rest while I'm stuck here doing a Saturday shift."

"And enjoying my wonderful company," Spencer added with a charming grin that lit up his handsome face.

She sighed and shovelled a few more bites of salad into her mouth, "Not that I don't love you _more_ than life itself Spence, but I'd rather be spending my fiancé's twenty-sixth birthday with him instead of at work."

"You get to spend the rest of your night doing whatever you want to your fiancé because you're done at four today, whereas_ I'm_ stuck here until six tomorrow morning," Spencer reminded her as he stabbed a few pieces of cucumber that were in his own spinach salad.

Victoire inclined her head to him as if he had a point, "Yes . . . but I don't actually get to do whatever I want to him for the rest of the night because we have to attend a birthday party for Teddy at Ally and Xavier's at seven tonight."

"Why's his party at Beckham and Posh's house?" Spencer asked as he called Xavier and Ally two of his many nicknames for the pair. Spencer had a fervent love for christening people with ever-changing theme-related bizarre nicknames.

"It was going to be at Malcolm's place but since–" Victoire stopped herself before she accidently spilled the beans about Nadia's pregnancy and then had to come up with a little white lie, "Since Nadia caught the flu a few days ago. Malcolm's been taking care of her at his place and he said that everything's contaminated now, so Ally and Xavier offered their house up instead."

Obviously Nadia didn't actually have the flu, but Malcolm's house was in a bit of a tumult since he and Nadia were trying to figure out how they were going to tackle being parents, so Xavier and Ally offered to host Teddy's birthday party at their home to take a bit of the pressure off of the new soon-to-be parents.

Spencer took a sip of coffee from his refillable stainless-steel coffee mug, "Planning large events would be a lot easier with a house of your own, wouldn't it?"

"Don't get me started," Victoire said with a sigh as she started physically picking cucumber slices out of her salad, "Hopefully we'll get that crossed off our to-do list tomorrow."

The healer from the Magical Bugs and Illness ward snorted in amusement into his coffee mug, "You really think that you and Teddy will settle on a house the first time you go out house hunting?"

"I decided on a wedding dress the first time I went shopping for one," Victoire replied with a shrug of her shoulders.

"House hunting is a little bit more complicated than wedding dress shopping," Spencer told her with a raised eyebrow.

Victoire smirked, "Dom would probably faint if she heard you say that."

"You and I both know that your sister has bizarre priorities sometimes."

The last four forkfuls of spinach salad were shoved into Victoire's mouth at a rapid pace, and she began to chew swiftly and a little loudly until it was reduced to a sticky mush in her mouth that she was able to swallow without feeling like it was obstructing her airway.

"Why're you in such a rush?" Spencer asked her with a raised eyebrow as Victoire started to stand up from her chair. Her mouth was only half cleared of her meal.

Victoire swallowed the rest of her lunch with a loud '_gulp_', "Not all of us actually have a whole lunch hour to waste away. _Some_ of us have work to do in our wards."

"I just diagnosed an entire family of eight with dragonpox," Spencer countered.

Victoire smirked, "The medieval kind?"

He shook his head at her but he had a hard time keeping a straight face at one of their inside jokes, "No, it was _not_ medieval, just the regular kind. What have you done this morning?"

"I diagnosed a few people in the emergency medical ward with _non_-dark-magic related illnesses, so that was good for them," Victoire said with a nod.

Spencer rolled his eyes, picked a cucumber out of what was left of his salad, and tossed it at her, "Just get back to your _super important_ ward already before Fabius can complain that you're not pulling your weight."

"Bloody Fabius," Victoire muttered with an eye roll before she blew a kiss to Spencer and turned to leave the hospital's canteen.

Fabius wasn't actually in the Dark Arts Reversal ward that Saturday, which only _just_ made the Saturday shift Victoire was working bearable. Instead the quiet ward was being oversee by Victoire and Wesley Hall, and since Victoire was the full-time healer out of the pair of them she was technically in charge of Wesley, the wards' medi-witches and wizards, and assistants until the end of her shift at four o'clock. That was the main reason why Victoire had wanted to eat lunch as quickly as possible and get back to her ward; she was technically in charge and she didn't want to leave Wesley alone in case an emergency occurred while she was picking evil slices of cucumber out of her salad. She would have preferred not to waste time eating in the canteen in the first place, but Ally had already berated her earlier in the week for not taking enough time to eat during work hours, so she had followed her cousin's demands and took a fifteen minute lunch break.

She spent some time checking in with everyone on the ward when she got back to see if there was anything they needed from her or if something had developed while she was gone. Wesley ended up rolling his eyes at her and telling her that she wasn't gone long enough for an emergency to develop and that she needed to chill out and take the time to eat more balanced meals in the future. Victoire waited until the medi-witches and wizards had gone back to their duties before she stuck her tongue out at Wesley. He just smirked at her, grabbed a clipboard, and walked into a patient room.

Once Victoire had given into her obsessive compulsive tendencies to micromanage everything going on in the ward (the medi-witches and wizards and healing assistants were well familiar with her work ethic by that point so they didn't take her interference too personally), she sat down behind the desk in her office and started to look through some paperwork she had piled up on its left side.

A half hour of drudging paperwork later and there was a knock on her door. The sound ended up being a precursor to one of the healing assistants sticking their head into her office and enquiring if she had the time for a walk-in healing consultation.

Victoire replied to the familiar healing assistant in the affirmative, and she tidied up the files on her desk just before a man and a woman were ushered into her office. The woman seemed to be in her early-to-mid thirties, while the man looked to be in his late thirties or even his early forties since his hair was streaked liberally with grey and his face lined with faint wrinkles. The pair were holding hands which made it immediately apparent to Victoire that they were a couple.

"Good afternoon, I'm Healer Victoire Weasley," Victoire introduced herself to the pair as she stood up from behind her desk and reached towards them to shake their hands.

The couple took turns shaking her hand and introduced them themselves as Mr. and Mrs. Norton. Victoire asked the pair to sit down and she then eyed the door to make sure that the healing assistant had closed it firmly after escorting the couple in.

"What can I do for you?" She asked the couple in her polite and professional healing tone of voice. Her blue eyes had already slyly inspected the pair as they shook her hand and sat down in the chairs across from her desk, but she hadn't spotted any outward signs of illness or injury in either of them.

"Well," Mrs. Norton began after sharing a look with her husband, "We're here because we're trying to get pregnant."

Victoire gave the couple a bit of a flabbergasted look but did her best to speak to them politely and non-condescendingly, "That's admirable . . . unfortunately my specialty isn't fertility or obstetrics. I _can_ however give you the names of several excellent obstetric and gynecological healers who practice here at St. Mungo's."

The sheer amount of pregnancy detecting spells she'd cast and pregnancy advice she'd doled out in the past week notwithstanding, her specialty was so far from obstetrics that she wasn't sure how the couple could have made such a mistake.

"Oh no! We're aware that _that's_ not your specific field of healing," Mrs. Norton said quickly, her eyes going wide, "We visited a medi-witch at the walk-in healing clinic close to our home this morning and when we discussed our medical histories and our intention to get pregnant the medi-witch recommended that we come here."

A pair of blonde eyebrows narrowed over Victoire's eyes in curiosity, "Why did she recommend you come to St. Mungo's Dark Arts Reversal ward?"

"I'm rather certain that it's because I'm a werewolf," Mr. Norton confessed as he looked down at the arm of his chair where his wife was clutching his hand tightly.

Wheels began turning in Victoire's mind upon hearing this admission. Their presence in her office was beginning to make more sense, "How long have you been suffering from lycanthropy Mr. Norton?"

"It's been eight years," Mr. Norton explained as he slowly raised his gaze to meet Victoire's.

Victoire nodded her head and looked between the couple, "Do you have any other children together?"

They shook their heads.

"Do either of you have children with a different partner?"

They shook their heads again.

"Do you have any reason to believe that you have any fertility-based issues that might inhibit your ability to conceive a child?"

"Henry and I have both taken fertility tests in the past, according to those results we should have no problems conceiving," Mrs. Norton explained.

Victoire nodded her head once more and began writing some notes down on a scrap piece of parchment paper, "Well if you have no reason to think that you will have trouble conceiving a child I am still a little unsure as to why the medi-witch from your walk-in clinic sent you here."

"We've been discussing between the two of us whether we should have children for several years now. We–we just decided to go through with it, but when we mentioned this and our . . . concerns and apprehensions to the medi-witch we saw today she suggested that we come here and see you Healer Weasley," Mrs. Norton explained.

Victoire pursed her lips and started tapping her quill on the piece of parchment paper in front of her, "The medi-witch recommended you come see me specifically?"

"Yes."

"What was this medi-witch's name?"

Mrs. Norton glanced at her husband and they whispered to each other for a second before Mrs. Norton faced Victoire and said confidently, "Her name was Shelley Alexander."

That was the missing piece of the puzzle she needed to make the situation in front of her make sense. Shelley Alexander went to Hogwarts with Victoire, and they had been in the same year although Shelley had been sorted into Hufflepuff. Victoire knew Shelley Alexander moderately well as the young woman had been the sweet happy type who could make friends with just about anyone (although Colton had tried his best during his years at school to ignore the Hufflepuff's friendly nature), and when Victoire was Head Girl for Gryffindor in her last year at Hogwarts Shelley was Head Girl of Hufflepuff. Their positions meant that the two spent a good amount of time working together along with the other student heads of house to work on their many and varied duties as head students. Victoire had heard a while ago that Shelley had become a qualified medi-witch, and once Shelley found out that Mr. Norton had lycanthropy and that the couple were hesitant to have children, she must have thought that recommending they see Victoire would be helpful to them in more ways than one.

"I went to Hogwarts with Ms. Alexander, she's a brilliant witch," Victoire said calmly, "You said that you told her that you were hesitant about having children?"

Mr. and Mrs. Norton squeezed their clasped hands tighter and Mrs. Norton replied, "We're aware that not many people with lycanthropy choose to have biological children, and we had many of the same concerns about having children as I'm sure that all of those people did."

"You're worried about how Mr. Norton's lycanthropy might affect your child?" Victoire questioned them in a gentle and understanding tone.

Mr. Norton nodded, "Yes, we've discussed and worried over just about every possible outcome . . . and then we worried some more about whether or not we were being selfish by wanting a child of our own blood, whether we have a right to impose our potential health problems and genetics on an innocent life."

"It's human nature for many to feel a longing for biological children of their own; that doesn't make you selfish," Victoire replied sympathetically.

Mrs. Norton swallowed thickly and scowled at a thought that drifted through her mind, "Unfortunately not many people believe that. Many people still think that Henry's condition makes him less than human."

"You're correct Mrs. Norton, there are still many people out there who share that outdated and inhumane type of thought. Luckily for you however, I am not one of those people; and that is why Ms. Alexander recommended that you come see me," Victoire told the couple.

Mr. Norton's eyes started to fill with a guarded type of hope, "Do you have much experience with couples who have children while one of the biological parents has lycanthropy?"

"I do not have much medical history with children of lycanthropes since you are correct in your previous statement that many people with lycanthropy choose not to have biological children. I do however have _personal_ experience with children of lycanthropes," She explained as she went back to tapping the end of her quill against her parchment.

Mr. and Mrs. Norton frowned at her in confusion. Victoire elaborated, "My fiancé's father had lycanthropy. I've known my fiancé since we were children and I am very familiar with his medical history. My own father was attacked by a man with lycanthropy before I was born. It did not occur during a full moon, but aspects of the disease did spread to my father's system. After my father recovered he married my mother and they went on to have three children."

"Your–your fiancé does he–does he have-" Mr. Norton couldn't finish his question.

It was obvious that the pair had never met or spoken to the child of someone with lycanthropy before.

"He's perfectly healthy. I wouldn't call him _normal_, but that has much more to do with genes he inherited from his mother, not his father. He does get a little tetchy on nights where there are full moons, but that along with some body soreness, headaches, and nausea are the worst of the symptoms," Victoire candidly described, "Myself and my siblings also get some nausea and headaches during full moons, but we're always better by the next morning."

Mr. Norton swallowed thickly and the circumspect hope in his eyes grew, "There are no lasting . . . issues?"

"Nothing a little wolfsbain one night a month won't fix," Victoire said with a nod and a casual shrug, "Obviously I can't assure you that any child of yours will react the same way to the effects of a full moon, but there is _no_ evidence yet that suggests that the child of a lycanthrope will have more adverse reactions to a full moon than what I've described to you."

"So–so our baby would be fine?" Mrs. Norton asked in a quiet voice. It sounded like she didn't have the strength to speak any louder. I was as if saying the words in a volume above a whisper would stop them from coming true.

"Statistically speaking yes," Victoire told them.

Mr. and Mrs. Norton turned their heads to gaze into each other's eyes as they allowed the renewed hope they felt to spill out onto their expressions. Mr. Norton kissed the back of his wife's hand and then he glanced at Victoire, "Is there anything we should be doing or Cathy should be taking to ensure that the baby will be . . . normal?"

"A healer–a _certified_ obstetric healer or medi-witch will suggest you take pre-natal vitamins and folic acid to ensure the baby's growth and development in utero," She explained with a slight smile and a smidgeon of a teasing tone.

Mr. Norton nodded his head and pursed his lips, "What about wolfsbain potion? Should Cathy take that each month when she _is_ pregnant?"

"Neither my fiancé's mother nor my own mother drank wolfsbain while they were pregnant, but of the little research I have read about children from biological parents with lycanthropy it seems that several mothers in the study chose to drink wolfsbain while they were pregnant and that the potion did not seem to create any adverse reactions in either the children or the mother," Victoire recited from memory, "However, there is not enough evidence to claim that the wolfsbain potion _helped _the child's development or 'normalness' to a degree of statistical significance in these cases either."

Mrs. Norton shared another look with her husband, "What would you recommend Healer Weasley?"

"I would need to run a small trial to see how Mrs. Norton responds to taking the wolfsbain potion while she is not pregnant to make sure that the trend of no ill-effects includes her as well. But after that I don't think I would have any medical reason to suggest either taking or not taking the potion. It would all depend on what you both would like and feel comfortable with. Wolfsbain is a potion that is notoriously acrid and distasteful to drink, and mixing that with a woman who may be suffering from typical nausea and morning sickness that comes with common pregnancy might not be the best idea. However, on the other hand if a pregnant woman feels herself suffering from more headaches or joint soreness around the time of the full moon, a wolfsbain potion with its ability to remove those lycanthropy related symptoms might be attractive and effective."

Victoire took a breath at the end of her long explanation and then eyed the couple inquisitively, "Either way I would be working in tight conjunction throughout Mrs. Norton's future pregnancy with whatever obstetric healer or medi-witch or wizard you choose to go with in case symptoms change and medications like wolfsbain need to be adjusted. So is using wolfsbain something you'd be interested in doing?"

"Is there an obstetric healer here who would feel _comfortable _taking Cathy on as a patient? We know that healers are not allowed to outwardly refuse anyone treatment, but we don't exactly want to receive care from someone who may be prejudiced against us," Mr. Norton said with a frown.

"All of our healers here are very professional . . . but I can give you the information of an obstetric healer whom I can _assure_ will treat the both of you with the upmost respect and give you excellent treatment," Victoire said as she dug through one of her desk drawers and found a business card with the name _Healer Donald Jarvis_, printed on it.

She took her quill and signed her signature in a blank area near the back corner so that Donnie would know that she recommended Mr. and Mrs. Norton as patients, while a sarcastic voice in her head suggested that Donnie should probably start giving her a finder's fee from all of the patients she'd sent to him lately.

"We're not sure if I should take the wolfsbain potion," Mrs. Norton said as she and her husband shared a defeated look, "It's–it's difficult enough to afford the potion for Henry once a month. We wouldn't be able to afford two potions a month-"

Victoire started nodding at their words and plastered a sympathetic expression on her face, "That's a completely valid worry. Wolfsbain _is_ an expensive potion. The ministry _does_ have a wolfsbain subsidizing program though, that makes the potion affordable for people who might not have as much income as others-"

Mr. Norton stopped her there, "We're aware of the ministry's subsidizing program . . . unfortunately I was kicked out of the program two months ago. They said that their criteria for the program had changed and that according to those changes our income is now too high for us to be considered for the program."

"May I ask what your income is?" Victoire questioned the pair professionally.

Mrs. Norton looked down at her hands and softly told her a number. Victoire frowned when she heard it. With that number it would be very difficult to afford _one_ dose of wolfsbain potion per month let alone two. Which is why the ministry's subsidization program was created in the first place. Victoire's Aunt Hermione had been the one to spearhead the program's inception almost two decades ago, but as time went on Hermione drifted away from working within the ministry to do more work outside of it and her hold on many of the programs she helped create changed hands.

"Did the person you spoke to from the ministry explain what the new income minimum is for the subsidization program?" Victoire enquired with a bit of a frown.

Mr. Norton spat out another number and Victoire's frown deepened.

The number he gave was a _gross _discrepancy from what the income threshold use to be and _should_ be. She knew that many socialized ministry programs changed their criteria when they had to cut back on costs or had funding losses, but the amount that the ministry's wolfsbain subsidizing program had apparently changed in the span of just two months was absolutely ridiculous. Those changes would make it difficult for many lower income people to afford wolfsbain, and many of the people who would no longer meet the income threshold for the subsidizing program would also be unable to afford a dose of wolfsbain each month out of their own pocket. The changes would also mean that Mr. Norton wouldn't be the _only_ person kicked out of the subsidization program; many people would be cut with the new income threshold. With more people being cut from the program the amount of potions St. Mungo's potions' lab should be brewing should be decreasing, not increasing at the rate that Ally had pointed out earlier in the week.

Victoire opened another one of her desk drawers and pulled out her prescription pad. Even though Mr. Norton's income was now too large to qualify for the ministry's subsidizing program, his income _did _meet the threshold to get an emergency prescription from St. Mungo's paid for.

"I can get you a prescription for wolfsbain for this month," Victoire said as she switched gears a little from their plans to get pregnant, towards Mr. Norton's lycanthropy.

"But the full moon's on Wednesday. Isn't it too late to get the prescription filled here?" Mr. Norton asked as Victoire handed him the prescription that was written in her signature chicken scratch.

St. Mungo's potion's lab didn't exactly operate like normal apothecaries. Since the potion's lab was in charge of brewing potions for the hospital and emergency prescriptions to go home with the patients, they didn't create extra potions that weren't ordered by the hospital's administration or individual healers. As the wolfsbain potion was difficult to create and took so long to brew, it was impossible to add another dose to the brewing list and have it ready in five days.

"Don't worry Mr. Norton, I'll work it out with the potioneers in the brewing lab. You should be able to pick up this month's dose on Monday," Victoire told him.

Mr. Norton smiled at her and thanked her profusely, but Victoire was only half listening to him as her mind had conjured up an image of Ally rolling her eyes exasperatedly at Victoire once the healer had the opportunity to tell her cousin that she might end up being one wolfsbain potion short.

Victoire asked the couple if they had any more questions about their plans to get pregnant, and when they finished she wished them a good afternoon and escorted them out of her office. With Mr. and Mrs. Norton gone, Victoire went back to her desk and started writing down some notes from their conversation, as well as a series of questions she had running through her head that she'd need to ask of some people from the Ministry and the Auror Department.

When she was finished, she went back into her desk for a third time and pulled out her muggle mobile phone. She pressed dial once she had found the name of the person she wanted to talk to.

Teddy answered his own mobile phone after two rings, "_Hello Love_."

"Hey," Victoire said into the phone, a smile slipping onto her face just hearing his voice, "I have a few minutes free and I thought I'd give you a call so that I could officially wish you a Happy Birthday."

"_Didn't you already do that this morning before you left for your shift?_"

Victoire blushed as she remembered the hasty but thoroughly enjoyable good morning/Happy Birthday/ goodbye she gave her fiancé before leaving for the hospital that morning, "Well I didn't exactly _say_ it in so many words."

"_It's alright, I got the gist of it when you were _breathlessly_ moaning my name_," The voice on the other end said in a tone that was both seductive and teasing at the same time.

The rest of her body was starting to feel hot as her blush spread from her cheeks downwards, so Victoire quickly changed the subject, "So what have you been up to so far today?"

"_Grandmum invited me over for lunch, and then she conned me into helping her turnover and prepare her backyard garden for planting in a few weeks_," Teddy explained with an audible smile in his voice.

"Are you still at Andromeda's?"

"_Yeah_."

Victoire felt her face go white, "And you just said _everything _you did with her there?"

There was a chuckle from the other end of the line, "_Calm down Vic I'm not daft. I'm still in the garden and Grandmum's in the kitchen making tea. She can't hear me right now_."

"Thank Merlin," She muttered into the receiving end of her phone.

"_Not that Grandmum's daft either, I think by this point she's well aware that her twenty-six-year-old grandson is sexually active with his fiancée_."

Victoire smirked into her phone screen, "Yeah, it's just your side-birds that you need to keep a secret from her."

"_Like I'd have enough time for a side-bird_," Teddy retorted sarcastically, "_I have a hard enough time keeping up with you some nights as it is_."

She did her best to hide a chuckle, and replied in a deadpan tone, "Because that's the only thing keeping you back from getting a side-bird: your lack of free-time."

"_Well what else would it be?_" He countered, she could hear the insufferable smirk in his voice, "_It can't be the_ _fact that I'm madly in love with you and that I don't find other any other women even the slightest bit attractive anymore._"

"No, that'd just be crazy," Victoire agreed with a laugh, "Although it's nice to know that I've ruined other women for you."

Teddy's voice joined her in her laughter, "_You also scare away the majority of women who try to attract me anyway. Well all women except for your sister that is_."

"And now that we've hit the portion of our conversation where I'm starting to develop irrationally annoyed and even jealous feelings for my younger sister, I think it's time for me to get back to work. Paperwork won't fill-out itself after all."

"_Okay, I'll see you in a few hours then. Love you_."

"Love you too."

* * *

**6:25 PM**

Cecilia buckled the gold buckle on the black shoe she wore on her left foot, and then adjusted the straps of the silver shoe she wore on her right foot. She walked along the carpet in a small circle as she tested each shoe, and then she pursed her lips and glanced to the dark haired girl who was sitting on the foot of the large bed, "What do you think Rowboat? Which shoe do you like better?"

The twenty-month old smiled enchantingly and clapped her hands together in delight as she looked at the pretty shoes on Cecilia's feet, "Shiny!"

Cecilia looked down at her feet and then back up at the little face of Rowan Parker-Dickinson, "Which one do you consider to be shiny? Is it the black or the silver?" The twenty-year-old woman patiently pointed to each shoe as she carefully enunciated the name of each colour.

"Back!"

Cecilia nodded appreciatively and then glanced back at her feet to consider the shoes, "Black it is Ro. Thanks for the good advice."

A snort of amusement came from the open doorway of the bedroom and Cecilia slowly turned –being careful of the uneven high-heeled shoes she was still wearing– to find her close friend Eliza Parker leaning casually against the doorframe in a red-and-white-checked apron.

"Taking fashion advice from my toddler are you now Cecilia?" Eliza asked as she moved away from the doorframe and walked further into her bedroom.

Cecilia smirked, "Well you were busy in the kitchen with dinner, and to be honest Rowan's got a better sense of style than you do."

Eliza rolled her green eyes and sat down on her bedspread next to her toddler. Rowan scrambled up and onto her mother's lap the minute Eliza's weight touched the mattress.

"I buy all of Rowan's clothes. How can she have a better sense of style than me?" Eliza quipped.

Cecilia sat down on the very edge of the bed and started to remove the silver shoe from her right foot, "You buy most of Rowan's clothes, but she does get clothing as gifts from me and Victoire _all _the time."

"That only adds up to like a tenth of her closet," Eliza argued with her closest female friend as Cecilia pulled the silver shoe off and set it on the bedspread.

"Which still makes her style a tenth better than yours," Cecilia maintained with a wide smirk as she slipped the black shoe's twin onto her right foot and stood back up to move in front of the mirror that was across from Eliza's bed.

Eliza rolled her eyes again, picked up the abandoned silver shoe, and lightly tossed said shoe at the shorter woman. Cecilia dodged it –she didn't play quidditch professionally like her parents and older brother but she did have _some _athletic skill left over from her days of playing quidditch for Gryffindor's house team– and she picked up a dress she had tried on fifteen minutes ago but had decided against in favour of the skirt and shirt combination she was presently wearing. She balled up the fabric of the dress and then threw it in Eliza's direction. The other woman tried to dodge it but she didn't have reflexes hones by quidditch like Cecilia and the fabric hit Eliza right in the face where Cecilia had aimed with the purposeful intention of it missing Rowan.

Eliza made a scoffing sound when Cecilia's dress hit her forehead with a soft impact, and she reached blindly for a decorative throw pillow to heave in Cecilia's direction. The pillow projectile missed her friend's form and landed softly on the floor next to a smile pile of clothing that Cecilia had also tried on and rejected over the past half hour.

Cecilia laughed at Eliza's poor aim and after a few seconds Eliza joined her with her own carefree laughter. The pair of grown women stopped chuckling when a childish, high-pitched giggle joined them, and Cecilia and Eliza both twisted to face the little girl and told the toddler in unison, and almost as an afterthought, that "it's not nice to throw things".

Rowan frowned but then ended up shrugging her tiny shoulders at the pair since she was use to her Mummy and her _Auntie Cee-Cee_ acting weird around her and trying to firmly-but-fairly discipline her every so often.

"So what do you think about the whole outfit Ro? How do I look?" Cecilia asked the toddler as she sat down on bed next to the little one and Eliza.

Rowan giggled again and smiled at her godmother, "Pretty!"

Cecilia smiled sweetly back at the toddler and reached forward to tickle the girl's tummy, "Back at ya gorgeous! Who needs men in their lives when you can get this kind of support from other women, huh?"

"You say that as if you don't know that you could wear a nun's habit and still have Louis find you attractive," Eliza replied with a roll of her eyes as she shifted the laughing and squirming toddler off of her lap and onto an empty area of the bed so that Cecilia could tickle her more easily.

Cecilia looked at Eliza while her hands were busy tickling Rowan, "That's only because Louis has a good imagination."

Eliza snickered and picked another pillow up off the bed to hit Cecilia with. Cecilia gasped in faux shock at the unprompted attack and then reached for two more pillows of her own. She gave the smaller one to Rowan and the pair of them teamed-up against Eliza as they started thumping her with their soft bludgeoning apparatuses.

The pillows flew and laughter and giggles echoed around the room as the three women took turns bashing each other with the pillows.

"I've heard about these all-female pillow fights, but I will admit that this isn't _quite _what I had in mind," A distinctly male voice mused from the bedroom's open doorway.

The girls dropped their pillows and Rowan instantly scrambled off of the bed and threw herself towards the newcomer, "Daddy!"

A smile of pure joy flashed across Benjamin Dickinson's face as he knelt down in time to catch his daughter in a tight hug, "Hello gorgeous!"

He kissed the top of her head and then stood up with the toddler still in his arms. He crossed the short distance between the doorway and the bed and bent a little so that he could press a quick kiss to Eliza's lips, "And hello Beautiful."

Eliza's cheeks reddened slightly and her eyes sparkled as she gazed up at Benjamin, "Hello to you too."

Beside Eliza on the bed, Cecilia pursed her lips and made an obnoxious kissing noise. It effectively ruined whatever mood Benjamin's arrival had created, "Don't I get one too?"

"And have you compare my kissing abilities to your part-veela boyfriend? No thanks," Benjamin told her in his aristocratic accent and with a roll of his eyes.

Eliza snorted a laugh and placed her hand on Benjamin's cheek, "Dinner should be ready in a few minutes."

Benjamin smiled, pressed another kiss to Eliza's lips, and then straightened up and rubbed his hand across Rowan's back, "We'll go get cleaned up and into a highchair with a bib then."

"You in a bib and a highchair _Benjy_? Is Eliza finally forcing you to eat dinner in a way that matches your maturity level?" Cecilia mocked Benjamin.

He just rolled his eyes at her snipe, "So _Cecil _are you joining us for dinner tonight or are you late for your evening shift in the red light district?" His hand that wasn't holding Rowan swept away from his body and gestured to the very short denim skirt, high heels, and sort of see-through lace top she was wearing.

Cecilia's mouth popped open in shock and she glared at her old schoolmate, "_Excuse me_-"

Before Cecilia could saying anything further, or start throwing out Gaelic swear words, a light metallic ringing noise started emitting from the direction of the flat's kitchen.

"That's the dinner timer," Eliza told Benjamin before giving him an intense and specific look.

He grasped the meaning of her look quickly and walked towards the door with Rowan in his arms, "I'll go deal with it."

When they were gone Eliza rounded on Cecilia and gave her a chastising look that she hadn't had to use since she was Head Girl for Ravenclaw during her last year at Hogwarts.

"Don't give me that look! He just inferred that I'm dressed like a prostitute," Cecilia pouted.

Eliza sighed heavily, "You _did_ kind of start it."

Cecilia muttered something angrily and in Gaelic under her breath and she pushed up off the bed and started collecting her clothing that was scattered around Eliza's bedroom.

"And can I ask you _why _you're still giving him a hard time?" Eliza asked her friend as she also slowly moved off the bed and collected Cecilia's rejected silver shoes to hand over to her.

"The answer to _that_ is easy," Cecilia announced airily. She began shoving her extra clothing and shoes into a small bag that definitely had a hidden extension charm or two on it, "Is _he_ still splitting his time between playing happy families here with you and then living in his parents' house with his inheritance and pretending that you don't exist?"

Eliza frowned down at her hands and petulantly replied, "He doesn't pretend that Rowan and I don't exist-"

"You're right about that at least. Benjamin doesn't pretend like _Rowan_ doesn't exist, he just pretends that _you_ and that _your relationship_ together doesn't exist," Cecilia countered after she ensured that she had packed away everything she brought with her –besides the clothes she was still wearing.

The mattress's bedsprings let out a bit of a creak as Eliza heavily sat back down on her bed, "It's not that he's pretending that our relationship doesn't exist . . . it's that his parents just prefer not to hear about it. They know that we're together and that he-"

"That he loves you?" Cecilia finished for her as she sat down next to her friend on the bedspread, "Yeah that's why they keep trying to set him up with each and every rich pureblooded society cow they can find."

Benjamin Dickinson came from a wealthy pureblooded family that had a long history in the wizarding world. His parents disliked Eliza for many, many reasons. The least important reason was that she was a middleclass muggleborn, and the most important was the fact that she had accidentally gotten pregnant with Benjamin's baby halfway through their last year at Hogwarts which had thrown a wrench in their plans to marry Benjamin off to a vapid woman from another rich pureblooded family that was within their same social circle.

"They've _never_ approved of Benjamin and me, you know that. It doesn't surprise me that they're still trying to turn his head and marry him off to someone they consider more appropriate for him," Eliza reminded Cecilia even though saying the words made her heart start to ache.

Cecilia sighed. As much as she liked giving Benjamin a hard time for his past transgressions –she one-hundred percent believed that he deserved it even if he had been a relatively perfect boyfriend to Eliza for the past year– she was still a loyal friend to Eliza and she didn't want to say anything that would make the hurt she was feeling even worse.

"He's not going to take their bait. He's already broken off one engagement for you and Rowan," Cecilia reminded her softly.

Eliza let out a long sigh of her own and began to twist a lock of her long dark hair around her finger, "I know, it's just . . . as much as I hate to admit it, you were right. It is like he has two lives. He plays _happy families_ with us half the week, and the other half he spends pretending like he's his parents' perfect heir who does everything they tell him to . . . or almost everything."

"You said that's what you wanted sixteen months ago. You wanted to re-start things with Benjamin slow and you wanted to stay under his family's radar so that they could work on their relationship with Rowan, their granddaughter," Cecilia said, repeating words her friend had told her almost a year and a half ago.

Eliza pulled harder on the hair she had wrapped around her finger, "I did . . . but that was a year and a half ago. And don't get me wrong I love where Benjamin and I are in our relationship right now, and our relationship with our daughter, but everything's . . . stagnant. Relationships are meant to change and evolve and to _grow_ with the people in them. Ours isn't growing. It hasn't been growing for a while, and while everything is nice in this bubble we've created in my flat . . . it's not fair that this is my whole life and only really _part_ of his."

Cecilia wrapped her arms around Eliza's shoulder and gave her a comforting squeeze, "I'm sorry, I didn't intend for my quarrel with Benjamin to turn into an existential crisis."

"It's fine," Eliza told Cecilia with a bit of a forced laugh, "I'm grateful that you always have my back."

Eliza hugged Cecilia back and the pair spent a few minutes collecting themselves before getting up from the bed and exiting Eliza's bedroom. They walked down the hallway towards the open concept living room and kitchen, and both women smiled softly when they saw Benjamin sitting in front of Rowan's highchair and talking to her as she somewhat clumsily shoved bits of her dinner into her mouth.

"She was getting cranky because she was hungry so I started to feed her . . ." Benjamin announced over his shoulder as his back was to the pair, he turned slightly in his seat as he said it and his happy expression dropped a little when he spotted Cecilia, "We do have room for one more if you'd like to stay Cecilia, although it _looks_ like you already have plans for this evening with Louis."

Cecilia bit her lip to avoid letting out a smile. Benjamin's overly formal polite words were obviously his attempt to apologize to her for his previous comment, without him actually having to say the words 'I'm sorry'.

"Rowan helped me pick out my outfit," Cecilia explained with a small laugh, "I brought a couple other choices with me but she liked this combo the most. Louis, Baxter, James, and I are being dragged to some new muggle/wizard mix club by Freddie later tonight. We're going to stop by Teddy's birthday party for an hour or two first and then we're going to this club."

Eliza smiled and gave Cecilia a goodbye hug, "Well have fun tonight! Oh, and give this to Ted." She waved her hand and wandlessly summoned an envelope to her. Eliza handed it to Cecilia and explained that Rowan had made a card for Teddy's birthday.

"I'll make sure he gets it," Cecilia said with a nod. She took a few steps towards Rowan and pressed a kiss to the top of the toddler's dark hair, "Goodnight Rowboat."

She straightened up and sent Benjamin a half-hearted wave, "Have a good evening."

Benjamin waved back and then within a few moments Cecilia had left the flat and closed the door tightly behind her.

Eliza settled down at the table with one plate of food for her and one for Benjamin, and he shifted his chair slightly so that he was partially facing both of his favourite girls.

"How was your day?" Benjamin asked Eliza cheerily, his attitude almost doing a full one-eighty now that the three of them were the only ones in the flat and Cecilia was gone, "Get a lot of work done?"

After Rowan turned a year old Eliza decided that she needed to get a job to help intellectually stimulate herself and to stop her from going stir crazy in her flat all day with just Rowan for company. It didn't take her long after she started looking to find a job doing free-lance ancient rune translation. She came to enjoy the work and she was happily able to complete it from home and in-between the more important aspects of Rowan's daily schedule.

"Yes, Cecilia was only here for about forty-five minutes so I got a lot of work done before that," Eliza explained in-between bites of food.

Benjamin took a sip of water, "I take it that she invited you along on their outing tonight?"

"She did."

"And you told her no?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

Eliza raised an eyebrow at him and scoffed, "Because I spent all day working and taking care of my toddler and I would like to spend what little free-time I have this evening relaxing."

"I can get behind that," Benjamin said with a mischievous smirk as he reached for her leg and squeezed her fabric-covered upper thigh.

She rolled her eyes at him and removed his hand from her body, "Not _that_ kind of relaxing. _Actual_ relaxing."

"Alright," Benjamin said with a defeated sigh as he pulled his hand away and started eating again.

"So what are _your _plans for tonight?"

Benjamin eyed her weirdly, "Well they're the same as yours, obviously. Although don't be surprise if I _do_ try to convince you to try out a couple different _types_ of relaxation."

"And if I say no are you just going to leave and go back _home_?" Eliza asked with a bit of venom.

He blinked in confusion at the sudden hostility in her voice, "I honestly don't know why you're suddenly angry."

"What do you consider to be 'home' Benjamin?" She questioned as she picked up her fork and stabbed a piece of food on her plate.

"You and Rowan are home," He replied quickly and easily.

Eliza breathed out her nose, "But _where _do you consider home to be? Here or with your parents?"

"Well you and Rowan are here, so here," Benjamin responded in a tone that said that he still wasn't sure why she was asking such a peculiar question, "Why? Do you want me to spend less time here or something?"

"The exact opposite actually," Eliza said with a frown as she listlessly moved some food around her plate with her fork, "Why are you still putting on a show for your parents? They know that you're here on the nights that you don't come home from the office, and by now they have to have accepted the fact that we're _together_ and that them trying to set you up with a new woman each week isn't going to work."

Benjamin scowled down at his half empty plate and set down his fork. He avoided eye-contact with Eliza and turned to look at Rowan who was just finishing off the last of her food. He pulled out his wand, conjured up a wet washcloth, and started wiping the remnants of Rowan's dinner off of her face.

While his eyes were still intently inspecting his daughter's face for stray food stains, he slowly replied to Eliza's last accusation, "My parents _know_ how I feel about you and Rowan-"

"Then why are you still pretending to be their perfect heir who does everything they ask you to do!"

His eyes sparked with anger and he dropped the washcloth onto the table beside his plate, "Has it occurred to you that I'm trying to stay on their good side _because _of Rowan? _For_ you and Rowan!"

"Because they're _so_ kind and dotting to us," Eliza replied with heavy sarcasm.

Benjamin sighed heavily and began unstrapping Rowan from her highchair, "They're still in charge of my inheritance Eliza. If I burn my bridges with them they will take my inheritance away and-"

"I don't care about your inheritance!" Eliza yelled at him as her emotions started to boil over.

He gritted his teeth and pulled Rowan out of her chair. She blinked sleepily at him and he took a deep, calming breath as he stared at her chubby face. He turned towards Eliza and gently handed Rowan out to her.

Eliza eyed her daughter warily for a minute, she didn't want to hold Rowan when she was still feeling so much anger towards Benjamin, but when Rowan reached her little arms out for her mother Eliza's heart cracked a little and she hastily scooped her daughter up and held her tight to her chest. She pressed her face to the top of Rowan's head and took a deep breath, breathing in the smell of the toddler's baby shampoo as she did. The familiar scent had its expected soothing effect on Eliza's emotions, and when she looked back at Benjamin she repeated her words in a much calmer tone.

"I don't care about your inheritance."

Benjamin shifted forward and ran his hand through the thick scruff of dark hair on the top of Rowan's head, "I know, but we have a child to take care of and you shouldn't _have_ to take care of her all on your own or pay for everything."

"I _have_ a job," Eliza reminded him.

"But kids are expensive," Benjamin pointed out needlessly.

She rolled her eyes at him, "And _you_ have a job"

Benjamin had graduated from his wizarding law course the past fall and he had been an officially certified lawyer for the past seven months. He was given a job right after graduating from his law course with a large wizarding law firm that was owned and run by a friend of his father's.

"A job that is dependent on _my father's_ goodwill since he has my boss in his pocket," He emphasized as he ran a hand aggressively through his own hair.

Eliza settled Rowan on one hip –the little girl hand her head resting on Eliza's shoulder as her eyes were getting heavy– and she placed her other hand on her left hip. She gave Benjamin a derisive look.

He let go of his hair with a tired sigh and he shifted his position so that he could wrap his arm around the side of Eliza's waist that didn't have a toddler attached to it, and he pulled her and Rowan into his chest, "You know that the long term plan is for me to put some time in at Barton & Barton and get some experience so that I can eventually get a job at a _different_ law firm that my father doesn't have his hand in."

"_I know_," She sighed wearily into his chest, feeling as though that had at least had that part of their discussion several times before, "It's just . . ."

"_I know_," He repeated as he pressed a kiss to Eliza's hair, "But until I get a new job I need to stay on my parents' good side so that I can afford to give you and Rowan the life you deserve."

Eliza glanced up at him so that they were making eye-contact, "And telling them that they need to stop trying to set you up with other women because you're desperately in love with the mother of your child and you're never going to leave her wouldn't keep you on their good side?"

"I doubt it," Benjamin said with an exhausted sigh, "I am though."

She narrowed her gaze at him, "You are what?"

He titled his face down and captured Eliza's lips in a sweet, passionate kiss that sucked the air out of her lungs. When he released her lips he stared at her deep green eyes that were suddenly heavy-lidded and hypnotizing.

"Desperately in love with you."

The words escaped his mouth in an exhaled pant of air that tickled Eliza's skin. She licked her lips and pushed up onto her tiptoes just slightly so that she could press her lips against Benjamin's. She sucked his bottom lip into her mouth and his hand tightened on her hip. Their lips slowly parted and Benjamin's gaze drifted to the still form of Rowan, who was lightly dozing on Eliza's right shoulder. He pressed his face into the toddler's hair.

"I love her too, desperately."

Eliza moved her free hand to rest on Benjamin's chest, her palm resting right over his heart, "I know."

* * *

**A/N:** I hope everyone liked this chapter, we finally got to see some Eliza, Rowan, and Benjamin, and Victoire also discovered a new little mystery to potentially obsess over. That'll be fun.

**Next Update:** I will update once I finish it, but as you can see with my past update, I don't want to make you a specific promise that I can't keep.

**Next Chapter:** We will see a bit of Teddy's birthday party, as well as the younger kids hitting up the club.

Thank you to everyone who has stayed with me throughout this story, and who has followed, favourited, read, and especially reviewed!

BIG thank yous as always to:

**Break This Spell626, ntlpurpolia, carbo21, loverloverlover, NicoleTheSmith, no cure for crazy, Guest (1), lovelyjello, bookstar97, Izzy, audrey3horses, Guest (2), Lenny, Guest (3), **and **Marapotterhead**.

**Break This Spell626:** An imploded office would be super funny.

**ntlpurpolia:** Teddy and Jilly teaching first years aurors will definitely be shown. I thought titling the story 'All the babies' would be a little too on the nose, and then the first few pregnancy announcements wouldn't be as much of a surprise.

**loverloverlover**: I hope there was enough Eliza/Benjamin here to fill you.

**NicoleTheSmith**: _I_ think it would be lots of fun if they all had children going to Hogwarts at the same time *nudge**nudge**wink**wink*

**lovelyjello**: Those are a lot of questions, I will do my best to answer the ones that I can. More Cecilia and Louis will be sprinkled throughout the story, so don't worry. We'll hear more about James's break up with Mel in future chapters, so their story will be explained eventually. We will see the kids still at Hogwarts (Rose, Al, Hugo, and Lily) in a little while too, so don't worry. We saw Eliza and Rowan in this chapter :) Nadia will have to announced her pregnancy sooner rather than later since it's standard practice for female quidditch plays to stop playing when they're pregnant, it will make her pregnancy pretty obvious to the media. That's about all I can answer for now!

**Dawn**: Hello, I see you've caught up with this story. I completely understand that just because someone doesn't want to get married just because they're pregnant doesn't mean that they still won't get married because they actually love their partner. However my intention was to shown that relationships can be complicated and that people's feelings and insecurities can be complicated. In the end its up to each person in the relationship to come to an agreement on what they want for their relationship. There are also a lot of people out there who have children and are in long-term relationships and never get married at all. Relationships, families, and family units come in all shapes and sizes and turn out they way they are for all different reasons. PPS, if Selene's in this story she'll eventually pop up with all of the others.

**I hope everyone enjoyed this long-awaited chapter,**

**Please leave me any questions or comments you have in a review or a PM,**

**Until next time, DFTBA!**


	6. Soirées and Secrets

**A/N:** Hello everyone I know that this update is _waaay_ overdue but real life has just been so hectic lately. I've had several family members become very sick recently, and between that and trying to find a new full time job I just haven't been in the right headspace to right anything, so this chapter was slow going.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own _Harry Potter_.

**Warning:** There is some swearing in a few languages included in here.

* * *

**Recap:** It's presently Teddy's birthday and there will be a party at Ally and Xavier's for it. Jilly and Nadia both found out a few chapters ago that they are pregnant. Baxter, James, and Freddie need to find dates for Victoire and Ally's weddings, so Freddie's bright idea was to suggest that they go out to a club.

* * *

**Soirées and Secrets**

**Saturday, April 20th 2024**

**7:14 PM**

Victoire sprinted towards the front door of Ally and Xavier's house and didn't bother knocking before grabbing the handle and throwing the door wide open. Teddy was following behind her at a much more calm and collected pace, but his serene movements only further increased her own sense of anxiety as his slow pace was making them ever later for _his_ birthday party.

"We know, we know! We're sorry, we're sorry!" Victoire repeated the words quickly in a strained apologetic tone as she slid into the house's living room where she spotted Xavier and Malcolm Wood.

Teddy was a few paces behind her and much less apologetic as he sauntered into the room and said in a cheery tone, "We apologize for being a smidgeon late."

Xavier just glanced at Malcolm and smirked, "Told you."

Malcolm shrugged and reached into his pocket to hand Xavier a silver sickle.

"Wait–did you bet on whether we'd be late or not?" Victoire asked as she glanced around the living room and noticed that the four of them were the only people visibly present.

It was odd considering that they were told that Teddy's birthday party was supposed to start at seven and they were already a quarter of an hour late.

"No," Malcolm scoffed as he pulled Teddy into a birthday hug and slapped him on the back, "We bet on how late you'd be to Teddy's own party. I thought you'd be _at least_ another fifteen minutes."

"Hey!" Victoire pouted more than a little offended.

Xavier snickered, "That's why we told you guys that the party was going to start at seven when we actually told all the guests to be here by eight. It was Ally's idea, she figured you'd be running late. Again."

"Well sor-_ry_ for losing track of time," Victoire said as she crossly folded her arms over her chest.

Malcolm smirked at her and then glanced at Teddy with a raised eyebrow, "Was it worth it?"

"One-hundred and ten percent," Teddy confessed with a proud smirk of his own.

Xavier made a face while Malcolm chuckled and clapped Teddy on the shoulder, "Excellent."

"So did you leave poor Nadia home all by herself?" Victoire asked Malcolm after she inspected the large living room once more.

Malcolm sighed, "_No_. She's in the loo. More morning sickness."

"And you've left her in the bathroom all by herself?" Victoire asked outraged.

"No," Malcolm repeated vehemently, "Ally's tending to her. I went to help and she threw a bar of soap at me and told me that I needed to stop being her shadow for an _accidenti_ minute. Which means for a 'damn' minute by the way."

Victoire shrugged, muttered "fair enough", and then walked out of the living room and towards the closest bathroom. She pushed open the only partially closed door and found Nadia sitting on the floor with her head between her knees as she inhaled a few in deep, sucking breaths. Ally sat next to her and kindly rubbed her back.

"I see that you and Malcolm have discovered that morning sickness actually occurs during all hours of the day," Victoire observed as she stepped into the room and sat down on the floor across from the other two women.

Nadia lifted her head enough to look at Victoire and then groaned, "I honestly thought that my friend Annalisa was pulling my leg when she told me about it, but now I can see that it was just the awful, ugly truth."

"How're you faring besides the vomiting and nausea?" Victoire enquired.

Nadia and Malcolm had had their first official appointment with their obstetric healer the day before.

"Healer Jarvis said that the baby and I are doing well for now. He did say that if I find myself having a hard time keeping down all of my meals and my prenatal vitamins that he'd look into prescribing me a potion to help curb the nausea," Nadia explained.

Ally squeezed Nadia's shoulders comfortingly, "I'll brew it for you if you need one."

"Thanks," Nadia replied, her facing tinging a light green.

"Feeling any other symptoms?"

Nadia groaned, "Ugh my breasts are_ so_ sore. This is the first time I've worn a bra in the past forty-eight hours."

"Malcolm must being enjoying _that_ at least," Victoire muttered with an eye roll.

"I gave him a nasty stinging hex earlier today when he grabbed by boob too hard," Nadia told them freely, "It hurt like a _figlio di puttana_."

Victoire snorted in amusement at the thought of what the expression on Malcolm's face would have looked like when Nadia cursed him, "Why in the world would he grab you like that?"

"Well to be fair he probably thought that it was okay because at the time I had _my_ hand down his pants," Nadia admitted with a casual shrug of her shoulders.

"I see how that could have sent mixed messages," Ally muttered as she did her best not to laugh.

Nadia rubbed her hands down her face, "Which led to my third awful pregnancy symptom, _wild _mood swings."

"Katie had really bad mood swings each time she was pregnant too," Ally mused.

Victoire nodded, "True, I always thought that it was just _her_, but now I'm starting to wonder if it isn't the fault of all these Wood babies."

"You could always ask Malcolm's Mum if she had awful mood swings when she was pregnant," Ally suggested.

"She'd probably be very candid with me about her pregnancy symptoms too, she and Malcolm's Dad have been very supportive so far," Nadia remarked.

Victoire stretched her neck, "When did you tell them?"

"Yesterday evening after my appointment with Healer Jarvis, we didn't want to leave it too long since Katie told us that Oliver's bad at keeping secrets," Nadia explained, "We've got a meeting with the team's management and publicists on Tuesday to discuss officially announcing my pregnancy since the media will discover soon enough that I'm no longer playing quidditch, and then we're travelling straight to Italy to tell my parents and friends before the media outs us."

"How're you travelling to Italy?"

Nadia made a face and her skin turned greener, "Healer Jarvis said that it's still safe this early in my pregnancy to take a portkey."

"Did he explain that it would also probably make you vomit?" Victoire asked.

The pregnant woman nodded, causing her stomach to start to churn, "He did. I just figured that any type of travel would me want to vomit so we chose portkeys for simplicity's sake."

Victoire and Ally nodded at her reasoning, and then Nadia promptly began gagging. She crawled back to the toilet and vomited aggressively for several more minutes before transitioning to dry-heaving. The two younger women helped clean Nadia up, and then the three left the loo when Nadia decided that she didn't want to spend the rest of the evening cooped up in the bathroom.

They re-entered the living room just in time to greet the party's first arrivals. Kyle and Sandra and Colton and Anastasia were the first ones to arrive, but they were soon followed by some people Teddy knew from work including Hayden Summers and Kurt Williamson. The latter two forced Teddy to do a round of firewhisky shots, and then Teddy found himself back at the front door of Ally and Xavier's house greeting James, Freddie, Baxter, Louis, and Cecilia.

"Happy birthday big Bro!" James told Teddy as he gave his god-brother a big hug.

"Thanks for stopping by," Teddy told James just before letting the younger man out of the hug.

James smiled brightly at him, "We wouldn't miss it."

"Also, it's smart to pre-drink before hitting up the club, nobody cool shows up until ten at the earliest," Freddie added with a grin.

Louis rolled his eyes at his cousin and then gave his soon-to-be brother-in-law a hug of his own, "Well _most_ of us are here because we wouldn't miss it."

When Teddy let go of Louis he turned to accept a kiss on the cheek from Cecilia.

"Happy Birthday Teddy! Oh, and this is from Rowan," Cecilia told Teddy as she pulled the card Eliza had given her out of an impossibly small pocket on the back of her skirt.

Teddy accepted it with a soft smile, "Thanks Cecilia."

The younger kids drifted away to find something to drink and snack on, while Teddy stood in the foyer with the envelope in his hand. He slowly opened it and found a store bought birthday card. When he opened the card he found the inside decorated with colourful marker scribbles and sparkly stickers, the beautiful abstract art was obviously the work of an imaginative toddler. Teddy smiled to himself when he saw that Eliza had signed her own name, Benjamin's name, and Rowan's name on the inside of the card below her neat handwritten wishes for him to have a wonderful day.

"Should I be jealous that you seem to be enjoying that birthday card more than the one _I_ gave you earlier?" A familiar teasing voice asked from behind him.

Teddy turned around and grinned at his blonde fiancée, "Cecilia gave it to me. It's from Eliza and Rowan."

He turned it around so that Victoire could see the inside, and she smiled softly herself when she had a chance to look at it.

"That's sweet."

She stretched up onto her tiptoes and pressed a kiss against his lips, "How's your birthday so far?"

"Wonderful," He whispered before giving her a kiss in return.

Victoire smiled into the kiss and her hands slid themselves up his chest where one rested on his sternum, the other travelling to the back of his neck where she could run her fingers through his hair. Teddy deepened the kiss and wrapped his hands around her slim waist, one of his hands just slipping under the bottom hem of the back of her blouse so he could stroke the bare skin at the small of her back. She '_hummm_'ed into the kiss and slipped her tongue into his mouth. He tasted spicy from the firewhisky shots his colleagues had foisted upon him earlier.

"The baby _can't_ be a girl!"

Teddy and Victoire froze and slowly extricated their tongues and hands from each other's bodies. Their heads turned at the same time to look bewilderedly in the direction of the person who rudely interrupted them: Malcolm Wood.

Victoire glared at Malcolm for interrupting them, while Teddy sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration, "And why can't the baby be a girl?"

"Because!" Malcolm announced in a rather loud decibel as he threw his hands up in the air, "I don't know what to do with girls!"

The engaged couple eyed the other man warily when they spotted the half-finished alcoholic beverage in his hand.

"What makes you say that?"

"I just told Cecilia that her skirt is too short and that her shirt is too tight and she told me bugger off, but much more obscenely and in Gaelic," Malcolm complained.

Victoire rolled her eyes, "Criticizing your twenty-year-old cousin's fashion choices is very different from raising a female child from scratch."

"But if I have a baby girl I'm gonna have to deal with her growing up and attracting boys and boys are _the worst_!" Malcolm continued to grumble, his voice slurring a little as the alcohol he drank started to hit him.

Teddy sighed and placed his hand on his best mate's shoulder, "You're kinda putting the carriage before the thestral there Mate."

Victoire nodded in agreement and skilfully grabbed the half-drained drink from Malcolm's hand and wandlessly vanished it, "Just take a minute to calm down, and maybe get some water. Nadia's going to be furious with you if you get drunk tonight when she has to stay sober for the next nine months."

"But if Cecilia bends over too far half the room will get a view of her knickers!"

Victoire pinched the bridge of her nose in irritation, "If I go talk to Cecilia about her outfit choice will you chill the Hell down for a hot sec?"

Malcolm started nodding hastily.

She glanced at Teddy, "Sober him up a bit? It's not even nine yet."

Teddy nodded his head and Victoire left the pair in the foyer, Teddy saying something to Malcolm in a calming tone of voice about how they should get Malcolm some water and heavy carbs.

It wasn't difficult to find Cecilia, even in Ally and Xavier's spacious living room. She was standing next to Louis and chatting with Sandra and Kyle. Victoire slowly walked up behind Cecilia and scrutinised her outfit. The younger girl was wearing a pair of black shoes with a gold buckle and a two-inch heel that she recognized as part of the gift Dom had given Cecilia for her birthday that year; a dark blue denim skirt that had brass buttons straight up the middle every inch or so from the bottom hem all the way up to the waistband; and a lacy burgundy coloured shirt with bell sleeves that showed patches of her pale skin around her waist, back, arms, and around the neckline. The shirt was skin tight, but the lace covered enough skin to seem proper enough. Malcolm's complaint about the skirt being very short was also mostly genuine, but Cecilia was rather short and petite to start with so even with the high-heels she didn't seem to be showing an inappropriate amount of skin.

Overall, Cecilia seemed comfortable in her outfit, and Louis also seemed to rather like it as he had his arm wrapped snuggly around her waist.

"I'm impressed Cee-Cee," Victoire said teasingly as she joined the group, "You sent Malcolm into a tailspin without even the slightest bit of effort on your part, _bravo_."

Cecilia rolled her eyes, "Is he off telling everyone that he thinks I'm dressed like a harlot?"

"Don't worry, he didn't get very far. Teddy's helping him sober up right now," Victoire assured her brother's girlfriend.

"He's just got a lot on is plate right now," Louis reminded his girlfriend in an attempt to comfort her.

Victoire nodded in agreement, "It's going to be _quite_ the learning curve, that's for sure."

Sandra and Kyle sent the other three odd looks as they spoke about Malcolm, but Victoire assured them that she'd explain everything in a day or two.

"I just don't know why everyone's decided to take it upon themselves to comment about my outfit choice tonight," Cecilia grumbled with a rather adorable pout, "There are gonna be girls –and guys– at the club tonight with much more of their flesh hanging out than me."

Louis comfortingly rubbed her back, "I know Love."

"This outfit isn't even close to obscene, you can't see my cleavage or my arse or my-"

"We get the picture Cecilia thanks," Kyle interrupted her dryly. As Xavier's best mate since they met on their first day at Hogwarts, Kyle saw Cecilia as the younger sister he never had. And as such, like any big brother he did _not_ want to hear about her bits.

Cecilia rolled her eyes at Kyle and then excused herself to flounce off and grab another drink. Louis followed after her quickly to make sure that she was drinking the same amount of water as alcohol, and once they were gone Victoire, Kyle, and Sandra broke into laughter at the expense of the pair.

"Ah, what I would give to be twenty again and to have my biggest worry be someone thinking that the clothes I was wearing were too revealing," Victoire replied in between bittersweet laughter.

Sandra sighed and nodded her head in agreement, "Yeah, that would be much more fun than worrying about whether we're on route to meet our new ambitious quarterly projections now that we're starting to prepare for actually breaking ground for the new projects in Spain-"

"Take a breath Honey," Kyle cut off his wife's rant as he placed his heavy hands onto her shoulders and started to massage them, "Everything will work out with the new project-"

"Easy for you to say," Sandra accused as she turned on her husband, "You're the head of marketing and public relations for the firm. Your only responsibility for this project is to keep our investment partners happy, which is pretty easy in this case since it's only Dimas Cabrera and his father that you need to keep happy."

Kyle shrugged, "Fair enough . . . but my job's also easier because you always do such a wonderful job with yours."

Sandra sent him a look and crossed her arms over her chest, he smiled even more brightly and wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled his wife into his chest, "You are the most amazing person in the world and I love you so much-"

"Alright that's enough," She told him with an eye roll, "You always get a little sappy when you drink."

Kyle just grinned at her and pressed a slightly sloppy kiss to her cheek.

"You two are gross," Victoire commented idly from where she was standing a few feet away from the couple.

"We're gross?" Kyle said with a sarcastic snort, "You and Teddy are the queen and king of inappropriate PDA."

Sandra chuckled, "Speaking of, where is the birthday boy?"

"He's trying to help sober up the other love of his life," Victoire replied mockingly.

Sandra raised an eyebrow in surprise, "Malcolm's already that drunk that he requires sobering up?"

"Just a smidge," Victoire explained as she held her forefinger and thumb out with just a few millimetres of space between them.

Before they could start chatting about something else, Kurt Williamson came up behind Victoire and cheerily announced that he needed a dancing partner. Victoire had no chance to either agree or disagree before Kurt wrapped his arms around her and picked her up and carried her a few feet to the middle of the room where there was space for dancing even if no one had actually started dancing yet. He set Victoire down on her feet unsteadily, grabbed her hand, and then started to spin her around and around in circles until she became dizzy and started to feel nauseous.

It was only a few minutes into their crazy revolving spins, which Kurt was insisting were his smoothest dance moves, when Victoire started begging Kurt to stop before her stomach decided to travel back up her throat. Her fiancé's colleague didn't listen to her though, instead choosing to continue to throw Victoire around until her normally pale skin started to turn green.

Kurt finally noticed her change in skin colour on one of his glances up at her face, and he unceremoniously let go of her before she could vomit on him. Victoire staggered several feet after Kurt abruptly let go of her, and she felt herself swiftly falling backwards, and was certain that she was going to crash to the floor when she felt a strong arm reach out and wrap itself around her waist to help steady her.

Victoire turned her head slowly, her stomach was logged somewhere near her sternum instead of where it should have been underneath her diaphragm and above her intestines, and her eyes widened in surprise when she saw the nearest close-up of Colton Knott's face that she had ever wanted to see. She had opened her mouth so say something to him when he hastily pushed her into a somewhat steady standing position and then extracted his arm from around her waist.

"_Please_ don't vomit on me Weasley," Colton told her with a scared flash in his eyes as he took a bit of a step away from her.

Victoire swallowed thickly and waited a moment for her stomach to slowly slide back down to where it was physically meant to be located, before she pursed her lips and glanced at Colton, "Are you still going to refer to me as Weasley when I marry Teddy?"

"Well I normally call Ted by his real name because I like _him_, so I guess I'll just graduate to calling you Lupin."

Just hearing her soon-to-be last name put some proper colour into her previously green-tinted face, "I'd be okay with that."

Colton sent Victoire a hesitantly kind smile in response, and Victoire started counting in her head to see how long their period of relative ease would last before one of them would do something to purposely annoy the other.

"_Porca miseria_! Whose bright idea was it to invite Clark and Mark here anyway?" Nadia Cassano grumbled as she stomped by where Victoire and Colton were enjoying their moment of relative peace.

Victoire turned away from Colton and glanced at Nadia, "What did those two do now?"

Nadia's face was red and furious and it seemed to Victoire that she was in the middle of one of her pregnancy-hormone motivated mood-swings, "Clark walked by and saw me eating something and told me that I should take it easy because my pants look tight and that I need to stay in quidditch shape for at least a few more months; _Brutto figlio di puttana bastardo_."

Victoire sighed, "And what did Mark do?"

"He let him say it!"

Victoire raised an eyebrow at Nadia, "Contrary to popular opinion _you_ know that those two don't actually share a brain. It's not fair to be angry at Mark for something Clark said."

"But it's easier," Nadia continued to grumble, her anger seeming to fade just slightly.

As of yet, Xavier was the only member of Puddlemere United's team who knew that Nadia was pregnant. Nadia and Malcolm still needed to speak with the team's publicists about how they were going to handle their announcement, and until that was decided the organization wanted to limit the chances that something might leak the information before a formal announcement could happen. Malcolm and Nadia had made the decision to tell Xavier –and in turn Ally– because Xavier was family and they knew that Malcolm would like his support going forward and before they had to make bigger decisions about how they were going to announce it. Cecilia and Louis had also found out about the pregnancy because Oliver was awful at keeping secrets, and as such Katie had to stick by his side for the past few days at work to make sure that he didn't actually spill the beans. The rest of Puddlemere's team was under the impression that Nadia had been ill and that the healer's advice was that she take it easy for the next few days to recuperate.

"I can hex him if you'd like," Victoire offered with a bright smile.

Nadia let out a long breath and then began nodding, "That sounds goo-" She stopped halfway through the word 'good' and sprinted away from the other woman as her face turned white.

Victoire excused herself from Colton and then dashed after Nadia, following her right towards the bathroom. The door to the bathroom was slightly ajar and when Nadia pushed it open, Victoire on her heels, she stopped in her tracks because the toilet was already occupied with another pregnant woman who was dry-heaving over top of it.

Caleb Cooke was standing just beside Jilly Donaldson, who was too busy coughing up bile to notice that two more people had barged into the bathroom, and he was trying to offer whatever comfort he could even though he wasn't quite sure what he should do in the present situation.

Victoire's gaze wandered to Jilly worriedly, "Is she alright?"

"We just got here . . . I think the apparation might have made her nauseas," Caleb explained, he then glanced from Victoire over to Nadia, "What are you-"

Before he could finish his sentence Nadia's face went from white to tingeing Slytherin green, and Victoire automatically wandlessly conjured a small empty rubbish bin and handed it to Nadia just in time for Nadia to vomit into it.

That noise caught Jilly's attention, and she turned from the toilet and noticed Nadia vomiting into the rubbish bin.

Jilly let out a deep breath and swallowed thickly, "Do I need to-" Another wave of nausea hit her before she could finish her offer to give up her spot on the floor in front of the toilet for Nadia, and she found herself coughing up more bile. She finished vomiting around the same time that Nadia's own bout of sickness started to slow, and both women groaned distastefully once their stomachs had started to settle down.

Even though there were more than enough people in the bathroom, it seemed that Ally and Xavier's first floor bathroom could squeeze in _one more_ person, which Malcolm proved a moment later when he came sliding into the bathroom, obviously having heard from someone that Nadia had been spotted running towards it. He stopped just over the threshold of the room when he saw the larger than expected assortment of people in the bathroom, and his eyes widened in surprise at the tableau before him as he muttered, "What's going on in here?"

Jilly groaned again, and even though Malcolm hadn't really addressed the question to her, she answered with a moan, "Apparently morning sickness is a bitch."

"Oh, it is," Nadia assured the other woman as she rubbed her hand tiredly across her eyebrow.

Both couples shared a surprised glance as they grasped what each woman was saying, but Jilly's gaze quickly turned to Victoire, "I thought you said that morning sickness doesn't usually occur much past the three month mark?"

"You mean I have another two months of this?" Nadia rounded on Victoire before the healer could reply to Jilly's question.

Victoire eyed both pregnant women warily, "Most women find that their morning sickness and nausea abates after the first trimester is over. However, some women still feel nauseas at other times during their pregnancy, and if a women is having problems with dizziness that may also trigger nausea." She glanced at Jilly specifically, "You haven't had many of the regular symptoms so far, so I can't exactly predict what you'll be feeling or when."

Nadia glanced at Jilly, "You have any mood swings yet?"

Jilly frowned, "No."

"They're not fun," Nadia explained with a loud sigh.

Malcolm glanced at Caleb and nodded his head in agreement, "They're _really _not."

A moment later, perhaps hoping to test the bathroom's total occupancy limit, Teddy came wandering into the bathroom only to stop right next to Malcolm as he stared wide eyed at the assembly of people, specifically at Jilly near the toilet and Nadia with a rubbish bin in her hand.

"Hey, what's going on in h-" He figured out pretty quickly what was going on, and immediately started to back out of the bathroom, "Never mind, I'm not touching this."

The metamorphmagus backed out of the room almost as quickly as he came and Victoire almost wished that she could have left with him, but she knew that she needed to stay long enough to make sure that both pregnant women were okay. Once both women had assured themselves that they were no longer in danger of vomiting, they started to discuss and compare due dates.

* * *

**10:17 PM**

"And you thought this would be a good place to find appropriate dates for Vic and Ally's weddings because . . .?" Cecilia asked Freddie with a scoff as she waved her hand around the air that was pulsing with the beat of the loud music that was playing through hidden speakers.

The flashy new muggle-wizard mix night club that Freddie has insisted they go to was filled to capacity with young muggles, witches, and wizards all wearing clothing that displayed varying parts and amounts of their body. If Malcolm had gone there he would have spent the rest of the night telling people of both genders to wear less revealing clothing. The main part of the club consisted of a large room that was dark except for the intermittent flashing of bright lights, that were most definitely caused by some sort of intricate spell that Louis would never ever be able to cast, and contained a large completely translucent glass bar on the far side of the room, and small but tall circular tables with tall stools that were scattered around the outer edge of the room. The largest space of the club was designated for dancing, though the actions taking place on the crowded dance floor definitely appeared to be much more like rhythmic grinding and gyrating instead of anything remotely artistic.

Freddie squinted at Cecilia and frowned, "I didn't say that we could find _appropriate_ dates for their weddings. Just that we could find _someone_ single here."

Baxter rolled his eyes and then pointed in Freddie direction, "He has a point. He didn't promise that _anything _here would be appropriate."

"Sometimes a little impropriety can be fun!" Freddie explained excitedly as he twirled his hands around in the air.

Cecilia muttered something under her breath at that point, but it sounded like she was more surprised that Freddie knew the word impropriety than anything else.

James suggested that they make their way over to the bar to get drinks and leave the topic of finding inappropriate dates for their cousins' weddings for later. Cecilia and Baxter decided to snag a table off to the side of the room so that they'd have a place to set their drinks on, while James, Freddie, and Louis went to purchase some alcoholic beverages.

Once at the bar, Louis quickly flashed a charming smile at the female bartender in the hope that she'd get to them next and that they wouldn't have to wait forever to order their drinks. The bartender eyed him speculatively with a small smile on her lips, but her gaze quickly skipped over Louis and her smile became blinding when it landed on the person to his right.

"Oh my goodness, you're James Potter!" The bartender exclaimed loudly in a tone of surprise that would have carried much farther if the room wasn't already filled with loud thumping music.

James's shoulders dropped a little and Louis noted that his cousin had slightly curled in on himself in embarrassment as he rubbed awkwardly at the back of his neck, "Well . . . yeah."

The bartender gave him a blinding smile and she fluttered her long eyelashes quickly, "You were brilliant in your game last week. I-"

"Thanks," James said quickly, only belatedly realizing that he'd cut her off, "Uh, is this an okay time to order a few drinks?"

The bartender nodded her head hastily, her long red curls of hair bouncing around her head with the motion, and she quickly began summoning and mixing the drinks that James, Louis, and Freddie listed off. She sent James enticing smiles as she collected their drinks together, in the meanwhile Louis bit his cheek to keep in a laugh and Freddie did nothing to hide his open snickering. When she was finished James slyly handed over a few galleons to pay for the drinks before the bartender could further emphasize that she was available for anything else he may need.

Freddie was still taking the mickey out of James a few minutes later when they made it back to the table Cecilia and Baxter had commandeered, with their drinks.

"I think you should give her a chance," Freddie was saying to James as he handed off a non-alcoholic beverage to Baxter who still chose to keep his drinking to a minimum even though it had been quite a while since he had overindulged.

James sighed heavily, "No thank you, just drop it Freddie."

"But she could get us free drinks-"

"I can afford a few drinks," James argued.

"_And_ she's your type."

Cecilia took a sip of her drink and eyed the arguing cousins curiously, "How exactly is the bartender James's type?"

"She apparently watches quidditch and she has red hair," Freddie explained.

Baxter and Cecilia nodded in understanding, while James groaned, "Because you're _such_ an expert on romance Freddie. If I did want to ask the bartender out how would you even expect me to go about it? Say 'hey there I have no idea who you are but you apparently know who I am, how would you like to go out some time?'."

"You could try something a bit smoother," Freddie explained with a roll of his eyes.

"What would you suggest then Freddie?" Louis asked with a snort.

Freddie glanced around them at the crowd of people that were slowly moving either further into the club or towards the bar, and then smirked at his cousins and Cecilia, "Just watch and learn."

Freddie took two steps away from their table into the stream of people moving around the room, he was still within hearing distance of his friends as they would be able to hear what he was about to say, when Freddie stepped up to a girl wearing a tight white leather skirt and said to her back, "So, aside from being sexy, what do you do for a living?"

The woman he spoke to turned around slowly and asked acerbically, "Has that ever actually worked for you Weasley?"

Freddie's smarmy smirk transformed to a bright grin when he finally saw the woman's face. He hadn't recognized her voice right away, but even with the heavy make-up on her face he was able recognized her after a few more seconds.

"Oh hey Teagan, what's up girl?"

Teagan Childs, a former Gryffindor classmate of theirs from Hogwarts who had been in the same year as Freddie and James, snorted at Freddie's expression and crossed her arms over her chest, pulling her tight shirt even tighter against her chest, which Freddie did his best to pretend that he _didn't _notice.

"Thought I'd come out and have a good time tonight without getting harassed by strange men," Teagan replied as she popped out a hip.

Freddie nodded his head seriously, "Preach! Well it's a good thing you ran into me because I can help keep all of those strange men away from you."

"You're honestly the first one I've encountered yet," Teagan told him with a roll of her eyes.

The table closest to the pair broke out in snickers as the insult registered with them. Freddie sent the laughing group of Baxter, Louis, Cecilia, and James a quick scowl before plastering a faux heart-broken expression on his face and directing it at Teagan.

"Uh, thy words wound me milady."

Teagan rolled her eyes again, but there was a hint of irrepressible fondness in her expression, "Please tell me that there's _someone_ around here giving you proper adult supervision."

"That'd be my job," Louis announced in a loud enough tone to carry to where Freddie and Teagan stood a little ways away from the table.

Teagan turned towards the voice and smiled brightly when she saw the familiar Gryffindors and Hufflepuff sitting at the table. She stepped towards them, Freddie following behind her, and cheerily greeted her old Hogwarts house mates. Both Cecilia and James even got a quick hug from the newcomer, Freddie sending James a jealous look from behind Teagan's back because James got a hug from her even though he hadn't even _bothered_ to lavish her with outrageous compliments.

"You're not here by yourself are you Teagan?" Cecilia asked her curiously as she played with the straw in the drink James had gotten for her.

Teagan shook her head, "No, my entourage is around here somewhere. I was on my way to get a drink when Freddie accosted me."

"I was just giving Baxter and James a lesson on picking up birds at a club," Freddie defended himself.

Teagan raised an eyebrow at the redhead, "Ah, so you were showing them what _not_ to do. I get it now."

Freddie frowned at her, but before he could retort the sound of Teagan's name being called broke through the loud music and noise of the club and reached the group where they were still amalgamated around the table.

"That'd be my mother-hen," Teagan said with a hint of exasperated fondness. She then raised her hand above her head and waved it around in the direction that her name was being called from.

A few seconds later a figure broke through the crowd of people closest to their table, "Teagan where have-"

The woman stopped whatever she was going to say to Teagan when her gaze quickly took in the other people clustered near her friend, "Oh, hello everyone."

Jordan Simpson, another Gryffindor alumnus who had also been in the same year as James and Freddie at Hogwarts, and who was best friends with Teagan Childs, seemed to calm down a little when she saw that Teagan was in the company of people she knew instead of a few indiscriminate and tipsy strangers.

"Hey Jordan," Cecilia greeted the woman who had been a year below her at school, "We apologize for keeping Teagan so long. I hope you weren't too worried."

"I was just worried that she might have gotten waylaid by an unsavoury character," Jordan said with a bit of a heavy exhale.

From what James knew of Jordan Simpson she was perceptive, controlled, and fiercely loyal to her friends, so Teagan's assessment of her being a mother-hen was rather accurate. It was also rather obvious to James that being in a club full of rowdy people and potentially predatory men was frazzling Jordan's poor nerves.

"Well she did," James admitted as he unashamedly pointed at Freddie, "But she handled him well and then he backed down."

Jordan automatically sent Freddie an unimpressed frown, but it was nothing compared to the heated glare she sent James a few moments later when Teagan said something that distracted everyone else at the table. James pretended that he couldn't see and didn't know why Jordan was glaring at him (even though he was fairly certain that he did know the _why_) and he attempted to pay attention to what Teagan was saying, which turned out to be a mild harassment of Freddie's ability to dish out lame pick-up lines.

James forced out a small chuckle to go along with everyone else's genuine laughter at Teagan's words, and he did his best to ignore the almost physical feeling of Jordan's stare on his face.

"Wait," Teagan said suddenly as she turned to glance at Jordan.

Jordan automatically orientated herself to seem like she hadn't been glaring at James over the past few minutes, "Yes?"

"Did you come looking for me by yourself?"

Jordan's eyes widened and she glanced behind herself worriedly, "No."

Teagan rolled her eyes, "And you were worried about losing _me_?"

Jordan stood on her tiptoes to try to see over the crowd of people closest to her, but since she was only about five-feet four she just gave herself a better view of a few people's backs and necks.

"Who else did you bring with you?" Louis asked the pair curiously as he stood up from his stool to become another set of –much taller– eyes and help Jordan spot whoever she was now looking for.

Teagan stretched up onto her tiptoes as well and began looking around the club as she supplied the answer, "Selene."

James felt Jordan's gaze on his face for a half second before she went back to searching for her friend's head in the crowd.

Selene Spiros was the third member of Teagan and Jordan's trio of friends, and all three girls were practically inseparable during their years together at Hogwarts, and apparently still very close even though they graduated almost a year ago and were now well into their first year as adults out of the safety and routine of Hogwarts castle.

James shifted a little away from the table and when he stretched up onto his tiptoes to look around the club he quickly spotted the familiar dark haired woman that he had attended Hogwarts with for seven years. He caught Jordan's gaze and nodded his head in the direction of where her friend seemed to be stuck within the crowd a few metres away.

Jordan forewent giving James another glare in favour of following his gaze to spot where her friend seemed to be trapped on the dancefloor. There seemed to be a rather burly man standing in Selene Spiros's path who was speaking energetically with his hands.

Teagan and Louis spotted Selene a few seconds after James and Jordan did.

"Uh-oh."

Jordan sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose, "She's never going to agree to even go out and grab a bite to eat with us again if this keeps happening."

"Has she also been getting random public recognition as a reserve chaser for a professional quidditch team?" Louis questioned the other two girls as he jerked his thumb towards his darker haired cousin to illustrate that they commonly dealt with the same issue with James.

"Yes," Jordan grumbled as she crossed her arms over her chest, "It's usually not too bad, but there have been a few weirdos . . . we assumed because this club was both magical and muggle that people would be less likely to single her out because they can't publicly say the word quidditch."

"Really?" Freddie asked surprised, "I mean part of James's problem is that he is extra recognizable being Harry Potter's son and all. Selene doesn't have that issue at all."

"Selene did score forty points two weeks ago in the last game she played up though," James added helpfully.

Nobody questioned why James knew this specific statistic, and the only reaction he really got was another look from Jordan, but instead of a heated glare it was more of a suspicious frown.

Tegan shrugged her shoulders and glanced at Jordan, "Try to be positive, maybe that's a muggle who just thinks she's really cute."

James was the one to automatically frown at her words, but no one was paying him any attention because Cecilia chose that moment to kneel on her stool –both Louis and Baxter's hands automatically shooting out to steady her around the waist so that she wouldn't fall off– and searched for Selene in the crowd herself via her better vantage point.

"Well either way she doesn't seem to be enjoying that man's attention," Cecilia announced as she watched Selene try to step away from the man speaking to her several times only to be stopped by the man stepping back into her way.

Jordan groaned in annoyance, but before she could go to her friend's aid Baxter offered to do it for her and quickly stepped away from the table. It was easy for the taller members of the group to watch Baxter's tall redheaded form push through the crowd of club goers and cover the short distance between himself and the dark haired second-string professional quidditch chaser.

James watched Baxter approach Selene and the apparently unwelcome stranger from the side. Whatever he said to her as he got closer captured her attention immediately and her dark head whipped towards Baxter's direction. He couldn't see her face too clearly because it was dark and there was a rather thick crowd of people between them, but James could see Selene's shoulders relax slightly upon recognizing Baxter. Baxter faced the troublesome stranger for no more than five seconds before he turned his back to the stranger and held his hand out to Selene. She grabbed it quickly and Baxter smoothly pulled her away from the stranger and through the crowd towards where his friends and hers were waiting.

Once Baxter and Selene broke through the closest wall of club goers, James could _hear_ Selene's warm almost musical laughter mixed with Baxter's deeper and familiar chuckle, along with visually witnessing Selene's slender fingers being grasped by Baxter's larger freckled hand.

Selene reined in her laughter and thanked Baxter, for what did not seem to be the first time, and then raised a dark eyebrow at Jordan and teased her friend good-naturedly about accidentally leaving her behind. Jordan and Teagan both rolled their eyes instead of apologizing, and then Selene moved her gaze around to get a better look at who else was present. She smiled sweetly and said hello to the familiar faces of Freddie, Louis, and Cecilia, her gaze ending on James.

The eldest Potter child noted how Selene's smile dropped a little when her grey eyes met his, and even though her eyes had seemed to lock him into their silvery stare, James's peripheral vision noted that Selene's hand slowly dropped out of Baxter's grip.

"Hi James."

"Hi Selene."

"So Selene," Cecilia declared, stealing Selene's attention and relieving James from the trap of her gaze, "We hear from Jordan and Teagan that you're starting to get more and more recognizable as time goes on."

Selene's cheeks went red and she embarrassedly tried to down-play her apparent fame, "Just a little . . . and it's only really among die-hard Harpies fans . . ."

Upon graduating from Hogwarts almost a year ago when James had went from finishing school straight to joining Puddlemere United's reserve team as a right wing chaser, his Gryffindor quidditch teammate Selene Spiros also went straight from graduation to joining Holyhead Harpies' reserve team as a centre chaser. Since she was only on the second-string squad of her professional quidditch team, like James she only received a few chances every now and then to play in place of their respective first-string chasers during an actual game.

"Well get used to it because I'm sure it will happen more often than not as you get more chances to play," Cecilia offered both teasingly and sincerely.

Selene, whose cheeks were still red and who seemed to prefer not to be the centre of attention, quickly changed the topic and asked Cecilia how she was doing. Despite the fact that Cecilia could tell that Selene was changing the topic, the older but shorter woman allowed it and went on to complain about how crazy everything had been lately with planning and organizing for Ally and Xavier's wedding in August.

Her complaints were barely out of her mouth before Louis started one up-ing her by reminding her that Victoire and Teddy's wedding was scheduled first and as such he was dealing with more immediate stress than she was.

"You're both talking as if both Victoire and Ally aren't type A individuals who don't already have everything planned to excruciating detail," Baxter reminded his cousin and friend with a roll of his eyes.

Teagan started snickering and pointed between Freddie and Cecilia, "I just realized that you two are about to become each other's in-laws."

Freddie and Cecilia both made faces, "Don't remind us."

"So what brought you three ladies here tonight?" Louis enquired of the other girls.

"Jordan decided that we needed a night out to have fun, and for some reason Teagan thought that translated to coming to a crowded new club where you can't move a foot without getting rubbed up against by a stranger," Selene explained while she sent Teagan a specific _look_.

Teagan folded her arms across her chest and held her ground, "It's been at least six months since you did something that wasn't quidditch practice, eating healthy food, or sleeping."

Selene frowned at her friend but then self-consciously glanced down at her feet, "That's not exactly fair, or correct-"

"No, you're right," Teagan interrupted Selene's defense, "You did spend the Harpies' by-week a few weeks ago in Greece where you spent the majority of your time bouncing between both of your grandparents's homes and allowing them to both deride your choice of occupation while at the same time ignoring their offers to pull strings to move you up in the profession."

Jordan, who had already heard this argument between her two friends at least three times already before Selene had even agreed to go out with them that night, interrupted what she was sure to be Selene's cross retort by asking the group of Weasleys, Potter, and Wood what brought _them_ to the club.

Baxter, ever the Hufflepuff who didn't like confrontation, answered for the larger group, "Well with so many family weddings coming up, some of us have been threatened with some sort of unspecified physical harm if we don't show up to said weddings with appropriate wedding dates."

"So it's rather obvious that we ended up here because Freddie has no idea what the word appropriate even means," Cecilia added with a roll of her eyes.

Freddie stuck his tongue out at Cecilia, "Excuse me Miss Wood, but I'll have you know that I inadvertently found three very nice and appropriate young ladies at this club tonight." He emphasized his words by gesturing towards Selene, Jordan, and Teagan.

Selene momentarily forgot about her disagreement with Teagan and snorted at Freddie words, "Nice try Freddie, but none of us are dim enough to agree to go on a date with you."

"Well I wasn't going to ask you anyway Spiros," Freddie told her as he pretended to be affronted, "Why would I want to go on a date with a woman who gave me a week of lunch time detention for no good reason?"

Selene put her hands on her hips and raised a dark eyebrow at him, "So you don't think that someone nicking a confiscated magic carpet from Filch's office and using said stolen magical flying apparatus along with an invisibility cloak to try to gain access to Norah Summers's dormitory is a good enough reason for detention?"

"No I don't," Freddie argued, "I fully intended to return the carpet when I was finished with it, and Norah had absolutely no problem with my sneaking up to her dorm room-"

"Her five other roommates did," Selene interrupted Freddie to remind him of that specific detail of his crime.

Freddie waved off her concerns, "Those girls were just jealous that none of their boyfriends were smart enough to come up with something like that."

Selene rolled her eyes in exasperation, and James decided to end the discussion, "Freddie, you should just be grateful that Selene didn't give Neville the invisibility cloak to keep for the rest of the year, _and_ that she gave you detention during lunch instead of after school during quidditch practice. I'm sure she got enough flak for that from other people let alone your many complaints before, during, and after it occurred."

"_Bloody Will Dyson_," Selene muttered angrily when James mentioned the flak she got from players on opposing house quidditch teams who claimed that she was favouring her quidditch teammate by timing Freddie's detention for when she did.

"Whatever," Freddie said with a careless shrug, "The moral of the story Spiros, is that I don't fancy people who like to snitch."

"I was Gryffindor's Head Girl!" Selene argued, her exasperated expression taking on just a hint of fondness which made it seem as though she had missed hopelessly arguing with Freddie over the past year.

Jordan gave Selene a look, "You should probably stop now before it starts to sound like you're _trying _to convince Freddie to ask you out on a date."

Selene sighed, pinched the bridge of her nose in exasperation, and muttered something in Greek before taking Jordan's advice.

"Well now that we've established that, Teagan, Jordan, would either of you like to join me at the bar for a drink?" Freddie asked in a tone that he thought was charming.

"No," Both girls answered at the exact same time.

Freddie let the rejection bounce right off of him, "What if I promised to pay for your drinks and threw Baxter into the deal to ensure that I don't do anything too inappropriate?"

"I'll take it," Teagan announced with a bright smile as she linked one arm around Freddie's arm and her other around Baxter's. Freddie began to move their chain of people in the direction of the bar while Teagan called out to Jordan and asked her if she was coming.

Jordan sent a worried glance in Selene's direction, but Selene waved it off and gestured to James, Cecilia, and Louis who were still around to keep her company. Jordan still didn't seem fully convinced, but Teagan yelled her name once more and Jordan didn't really have any other choice but to follow after the friend that was most likely to do something stupid once she had some alcohol in her. She made sure to give James a parting heated glare before leaving though, which yet again no one else saw because Cecilia had captured Selene's attention once more by complimenting her on her quidditch record so far.

After the four who were headed towards the bar had left the other four's sight, Cecilia and Selene had a comfortable conversation about quidditch that was punctuated every once in a while by James and Louis. Cecilia had just finished explaining her complicated opinion on a relative 'scandal' that was sweeping the Tutshill Tornadoes reserve team when she suddenly announced to Louis that it was imperative that he dance with her right away. Her boyfriend smiled indulgently at her and allowed her to pull him away towards the thickly crowded dancefloor.

Selene watched them go with a slightly shocked and somewhat confused look on her face, and even though James thought that her expression was decidedly adorable, he decided to try to explain Cecilia's odd behaviour.

"Cecilia's not exactly the best at handling her alcohol, so I think it's kinda caught up to her," James explained and he shifted a little closer to Selene so that she'd be able to hear his voice over the loud thumping of the music.

She glanced up at him with a concerned look in her grey eyes, "Should we be worried about her?"

"Nah, Louis has it all under control. He on the other hand can handle his alcohol like a champ, something about veela and werewolf genes and quick metabolic-somethings."

"Metabolism," Selene supplied for him helpfully, "He metabolizes the alcohol faster which makes it more difficult for its depressive properties to affect him."

James eyed her shrewdly, "Yeah, that definitely sounds like something Victoire's explained to me more than once that I've still forgotten."

Selene smiled sweetly at him, her cheeks reddening for a reason that James didn't understand, but that he oddly found himself grateful for.

"So," James continued, feeling his own cheeks starting to warm, "How're you doing? Really?"

She swallowed thickly, "Well usually I just tell people that being a member of the Harpies' reserve squad is wonderful – which it is– but it's also . . ."

"Demanding, challenging, and the most difficult thing you've ever done?" He supplied for her when she paused in her explanation.

Her eyes, which gleamed silver every few minutes when the lights of the club swept past them, were shinning with appreciation, "I figured you'd understand."

He nodded his head, his brown eyes never leaving hers, "I do."

And he did. James was grateful for the opportunity he had been given and he loved his job with a fierce passion, but he knew exactly what Selene was telling him. Just because he'd achieved his dream of playing quidditch professionally didn't mean that everything else was now easy.

"You did a wonderful job filling in for Cassano the other day," Selene told James frankly, her voice ringing with sincerity, "I know that playing centre doesn't come naturally to you being a right wing chaser, but you still did a great job filling in. Especially since you didn't have any time to practice in that position before the game began."

James put on a faux-affronted expression on his face, "What makes you think that I haven't been practicing that position for the past four weeks?"

Selene sent him a mischievous smile that made James's insides warm, "The fact that you almost dropped the quaffle seven separate times when the right wing chaser passed it to you."

"I thought you said I did a wonderful job?" James reminded her in a teasing tone of his own.

"You did, for someone who's not used to catching on the right side of their body. Doesn't mean that there's not room for improvement though. And more to the point, if you'd been practicing that position for _four weeks_ the first thing Katie Bell would have had you work on was your ability to catch a quaffle from both sides of your midline without fumbling."

He didn't even bother to try to curb the bright smile that slipped onto his face upon hearing Selene critique his quidditch technique. She was the person who had played centre chaser on their Gryffindor team and who was presently playing the position of centre chaser for Holyhead Harpies's second-string team after all, and she knew her stuff. The fact that she had sincerely praised him while also constructively criticizing him within the exact same breath made his heart beat speed up for some reason, and he wondered why he was reacting to her criticism the same way he would to a compliment.

"Well if we're sharing helpful advice between old quidditch teammates," James began in an attempt to calm his own heart down and put everything back into painfully platonic perspective for himself, "The last time you played you fell back into your old bad habit of over-extending your elbow when you threw towards the hoop. It caused three of your otherwise flawless shots to go wide to the left, costing you the addition of those shots to the score."

Selene frowned at him as she took a minute to concentrate on his words and quickly replay the last time she played up with the first-string team a few weeks previously, and James quietly watched her as he was entranced by how her expression changed as she realized that his critique was valid.

"_Éla_," She cursed in Greek, her expression registering in James's mind as undeniably cute instead of properly cross, "My coach is going to be so pissed with me when she re-watches that game and figures that out. I thought I finally fixed that like three months ago."

James reached out and squeezed Selene's hand in reassurance before he realized what he was doing. Despite the fact that his skin started to buzz with energy upon touching her warm skin, he continued on his course, "Don't worry too much about it. It only happened four times throughout the entire game, and all the other times you threw the quaffle at the hoop you extended just the right amount. Overall, you were brilliant, which isn't surprising considering how naturally gifted you are."

She smiled upon hearing his words, but quickly waved him off when his praise became more heavy-handed, "Now you're just trying to make up for worrying me."

"Selene, have I _ever_ lied to you about anything relating to quidditch or your skills in said sport?" James asked her seriously.

He didn't use the much simpler phrase of 'have I ever lied to you' because they both instinctively knew that the answer to that question would have been much more difficult to answer.

"No," Selene replied, her eyes glancing down to where James's hand still rested on hers. She gave his hand a light squeeze in return and then met his gaze as he felt another rush of heat and electricity through his body.

His mouth suddenly went dry and he continued to gaze into her eyes as his heartbeat began thumping behind his ears, apparently working with the loud music pumping through the club to momentarily deafen him to the sounds around him.

While he was entranced by her eyes and the task of trying to identify the emotions filling them, he didn't realize that someone was calling out Selene's name until said person was right next to Selene, trying to capture her otherwise distracted attention. Because of this he reacted just a little too slowly when Selene finally took note of the man standing next to her, and he didn't get the chance to pull his hand away from hers before the newcomer had a chance to take note of the action and the situation prior to it.

"Selene, what are you doing here?" A tall, thin man asked her without preamble as he authoritatively crossed his arms over his chest.

The newcomer looked as though he couldn't be more than a few years older than James and Selene themselves, and even though he _was _a few inches taller than James, the man's thin frame made him seem smaller as he stood so close to a much thicker and more muscular James, who _was_ a professional quidditch player after all.

Selene's previously open expression automatically slipped into a curt mask and she straightened her shoulders, "I thought I'd _enjoy_ myself for _once_ and spend some time with my friends tonight."

At the word 'friends' the man's scrutinizing gaze shifted to James for a few seconds before he glanced back to Selene. Even though it was only a few seconds James had the feeling that he had just been effectively judged and found lacking.

"It's interesting that you were able to say all of that without realizing exactly how ridiculous your own words sounded. I thought you were smarter than that."

James's eyes widened as he listened to the man practically taunt Selene with his words, and he would have vehemently come to his old teammate's defense if Selene hadn't shot him a quick glance that clearly said 'stay out of it'.

Instead of getting angry, an emotion that James knew Selene had in her repertoire despite the fact that she was normally nice and amiable enough to give most Hufflepuffs a run for their money, Selene placed her hands on her hips and moved her body just slightly to put herself between James and the newcomer, slightly obscuring the other man's ability to see James.

"And I thought that you had more autonomy and the ability to think for yourself, but I guess I was wrong too. Obviously you prefer to be other people's puppets because you're unable to make decisions for yourself," Selene shot back in a tone that James had heard on more than one occasion back at Hogwarts when Selene was Head Girl and in charge of disciplining other students.

The taller man obviously didn't enjoy listening to Selene's concise assassination of his character, and his face went red as he began to retort, "Listen Spiros-"

Before James and Selene could hear any more of what they both knew was most likely to be a threat, Louis and Cecilia popped out of the crowd and pretended that they couldn't feel the tension around the other three that could easily be cut with a severing charm.

"Selene, come dance with me Beautiful," Louis suggested in his most charming tone as he grabbed Selene's hand and pulled her towards the dancefloor without actually giving her the chance to agree or refuse. She did allow Louis to drag her with him though, which was agreement enough for Louis as they quickly got lost in the crowd around them.

The tall man seemed as though he was still trying to figure out what just happened, but James didn't have a chance to even try to defend Selene's honour before Cecilia had grabbed James's hand and begun pulling him in the direction of the dancefloor as well, also chirping about how he owed her a dance.

Once on the dancefloor Cecilia put her hands loosely on James's shoulders and began to move him around in lazy, somewhat awkward slow-dancing circles even though the song currently blasting through the air was of a much faster pace. James placed his hands lightly on Cecilia's waist and allowed her to lead him around in circles as he looked around the crowd for any sign of Selene and Louis. All the couples within James's eye line were very closely dancing and grinding upon each other, so he was slightly relieved when he couldn't spot the familiar faces of his cousin and his old teammate within the sweaty mass of bodies circled around his every side.

"You're welcome," Cecilia yelled into James's ear when his head finally stopped moving on a swivel.

James glanced at her in surprise, "For what?"

"For putting an end to whatever was about to happen," Cecilia replied flippantly.

James pursed his lips at her, "And what did you think was about to happen?"

The short dark haired woman shrugged her shoulders, "Not quite sure, but judging from the look on Selene's face it didn't seem like fun."

James nodded his head and then continued to allow Cecilia to move him around in slow circles until the song changed to one that was just as loud, but with a slightly slower pace. He dropped his arms from Cecilia's waist and shoved his hands in his pockets. His next intention was to tell Cecilia that they should find where Louis and Selene had gotten off to, but before he could make the words come out of his mouth Louis and Selene materialized next to them.

"Partner trade," Louis announced loudly as he simultaneously pushed Selene in James's direction while also grabbing Cecilia around the waist and pulling her towards him. James's part veela blonde cousin then whisked his girlfriend further onto the dancefloor and the pair disappeared in the crush of gyrating bodies.

Before leaving their sight, Louis had pushed Selene towards James with a little more force than necessary, causing Selene to stumble a little and physically collide with James's hard chest.

As a professional quidditch chaser, James's reflexes were sometimes quicker than his head and he found himself standing with his arms wrapped around Selene's waist and her body pressed softly against his before he was able to comprehend that Louis and Cecilia had effectively vanished.

"Uh," James said still in a little shock as he looked down at the dark haired woman he held in his arms.

Selene looked up at him her cheeks quickly turning as red as the strips of scarlet dyed hair that was streaked through her long mass of black tresses. She was also speechless for a moment before she realized that her entire body was essentially pushed up against James's and that her hands were clutching at his shirt in an attempt to keep herself vertical.

After a moment they dropped their hands from each other's bodies, muttered 'sorry' at the same time, and took a few steps away from each other to give the other person back their personal space.

Unfortunately, the pair seemed to have forgotten that they were presently on a dance floor in the middle of a crowded club, and they were soon pushed back against each other with the crush of bodies around them.

"Umm-" James began only to stop when he noticed Selene stretch up onto her tiptoes and lean towards him so that she could speak into his ear.

"It might be easier if we try dancing off the dance floor," She suggested in a tone that was both loud enough for James to comprehend in the noisy atmosphere of the club, yet still seemed intimate enough to keep the sounds between the two of them.

James nodded his head a little woodenly in agreement and he gingerly wrapped his arms around her waist, his hands coming to a rest on her back, while Selene moved her arms to rest lightly around his neck.

Once James's hands made contact with Selene's back he swallowed thickly. He hadn't paid specific attention early in the evening to what Selene was wearing, but there was no way he could ignore it now.

She wore a pair of high-waisted white lace shorts that didn't initially look too short, but which did show off a lot of skin from Selene's admittedly rather long legs. She also wore flat shoes which kept her about a half a foot shorter than James, and her loose hair was slightly wavy as if she had been wearing her hair in a braid earlier in the day.

James blamed her long hair falling freely down her back for obscuring an important fact that he hadn't noticed until he got his hands physically on her body. The simple black off-the-shoulder long-sleeve top Selene was wearing had a very low back and when James had placed his hands at the middle of her back he found his palms pressed against smooth skin that was pulled tightly over the defined muscles of her back and spine. He kept one hand on the bare skin of her back while the other slowly slid down to where the fabric of her shorts and shirt met to make it seem like he wasn't trying to take advantage of her choice in clothing.

He kept his gaze on hers and found that they both pressed their bodies just a little closer to each other's to make it easier hear each other when they spoke.

"So," James began, "What was _that_ all about?"

"Honestly I'm not sure, Louis did try to explain it to me but the music was kinda loud," Selene explained as she nibbled slightly on her bottom lip.

James swallowed thickly as he watched her teeth dig into the flesh of her lips, but he pushed on, "No –I meant what was going on with that guy back there?"

"Oh," Selene replied, her blush spreading from her cheeks down to her neck and visible collar bone, "That was Tate. He's actually my one of my mother's assistants at work and it seems as though we unfortunately ended up at the same club tonight. He's no doubt already left the place to go owl my mother and tell her that I dared to leave my flat tonight and that I'm currently wasting my time."

James's eyebrows lowered over his eyes, "Why would your mother care so much about what you do at night that she has her assistant ready to report to her at any moment?"

"Well, do you remember how Teagan mentioned something about my manic schedule of fitting in sleeping and eating around quidditch practice?"

He frowned at her, "I don't recall the word manic being used."

Selene's eyes widened, "Oh, well then forget I said that part."

James started to get worried, but before he could voice his concern Selene continued her explanation.

"Anyway, you've met my mum and you know that she wasn't the happiest last year when I told her that I wanted to pursue quidditch as my career. I wouldn't say that she's exactly come around to it . . . but she is of the opinion that if I'm going to do this then I should give one-hundred and fifty percent and that I need to be the best, period. Which means that she sees anytime spent not preparing for quidditch a waste of time."

"So what you're saying is that your mother most definitely wouldn't approve of you going out for the night to a club with Jordan and Teagan?" James clarified.

Selene shook her head sadly, "No. And I know that I'm an adult and everything . . . but arguing with her just gets annoying and exhausting and I just usually try to avoid it all together."

"And she didn't know that you were going out tonight?" He asked.

James could _feel_ her heavy exhale through the movement of the muscles of her bare back that was under the palm of his right hand, "She knew about me spending some time with Teagan and Jordan tonight, but I kept that fact that we were going somewhere with alcohol, loud music, and _men_ a secret."

"What are the chances that your mother's assistant recognized me?" James questioned.

Selene let out another sigh and sent him an apologetic glance, "Well he does work for the Ministry of Magic, so about one-hundred percent."

James forced a comforting smile onto his face, "Well if he tells your mother about seeing me with you maybe she'll just be grateful that you were with someone you know instead of at the mercy of some other sketchy bloke."

Instead of making her feel optimistic, his words seemed to have the opposite effect and her body froze and they stopped the slow swaying movement they had taken up when they realized it would be easier to dance off the floor instead of trying to walk through it.

"That might have made her feel better . . . if it wasn't for the fact that Mum knows about what happened last year . . . with you and me and–and _Mélanie_," Selene admitted through a clenched jaw as she stared James right in the eyes.

James felt his own body go cold at the mention of the _incident_ from a year ago when they were still in their last year at Hogwarts. He had only actually interacted with Selene a few times since their graduation from school a little less than a year ago, and each time they had come to a nonverbal understanding that they were never again going to even acknowledge the _incident_.

"You _told_ her about that?" James asked, his voice taking on a bit of a hysterical edge. He'd never even uttered Selene's name in conjunction with any conversation relating to his and his ex-girlfriend Mélanie's break-up in the presence of his parents, or anyone really who hadn't heard of the _incident _first hand when it happened back at Hogwarts.

"_Of course not_," Selene retorted, her eyes lighting up with silver flames when she realized what James was implying. Her ridged posture relaxed a few seconds later and her eyes changed from fiery to apologetic, "She overheard Teagan whispering something about it to Jordan one day when they were at my flat and she wouldn't let the issue drop until Teagan told her everything she knew about it."

James had met Selene's mother before and he knew first hand that she wasn't someone that you'd want to mess around with, so he was only slightly annoyed with Teagan for allowing Selene's mother to bully it out of her.

When it came to the _incident_ he was only really still angry with himself for it.

Well, himself and Will Dyson.

"So your mother only knows what Teagan told her about it?" James repeated looking for verification.

Selene nodded and James let out a sigh of relief. Not that he would have begrudged Selene talking to her mother about the whole thing, but he was rather glad that all her mother knew for sure was the same gossip that had travelled around the castle for the last few weeks of school before their graduation.

"I take it you were able to keep _it_ a secret from your parents back then?" Selene asked James in a tone of voice only just loud enough for him to hear over the bass of the song playing around them.

James hastily began nodding his head in the affirmative, "I didn't mention a word about you or _it_ . . . and thankfully Al, Rose, Lily, Hugo, and yes, even Freddie, respected you enough not believe the rumours they heard about it."

Selene let out a breath he hadn't realized she was holding, "Thank you. I–I don't think I would ever be able to face your mum again if I knew that she knew about it."

James nodded his head in understanding. His parents were the last people he had wanted to discuss the _incident_ with, so he was quite glad to keep it a secret when he realized that his siblings and cousins who had heard about it at Hogwarts were also going to stay mum about it. With his mother, Ginny, still working so closely with the Holyhead Harpies –her old professional quidditch team– he had tried especially hard to keep it from her so that she wouldn't have any reason to think poorly of Selene. Not that he thought that Ginny _would _treat Selene poorly if she ever did find out about _it_, it was just better to keep rumours like that locked up if at all possible.

"So your mother hates my guts then?" James asked Selene as he circled back to the main point at hand.

At first she looked as though she was going to lie to him, but then she went ahead with the truth, "Well, yeah. Kinda."

"Brilliant," James muttered with a dejected frown.

His pout must have been more endearing than he meant it to be, because Selene spent a long moment looking at him before she leaned closely towards him and placed her mouth right next to his ear so that she could whisper to him.

He felt the soft exhale of her words against his skin as she gently murmured, "But _I _don't."

James turned his head slowly to look at her, their faces ending up being only a few inches away from each other's as they stared into the other person's eyes. He could feel the movement of Selene's chest pressed against his as she took in shallow breaths of air, and he tightened his hands on the small of her back and on the bare skin that covered her spine.

He didn't know what to say.

He knew what he wanted to say.

He knew what he shouldn't say.

He knew what he shouldn't_ want_ to say, but he didn't know which one was actually the right thing _to_ say.

Wrong or right, James didn't actually get the chance to say anything. Instead, a few moments later both he and Selene's heads whipped around towards the sound of two _very _inebriated people calling their names. Teagan and Freddie were the first to finally break through the crowd of people around them, and they each grabbed one of Selene's hands to pull her away from James and further down the dancefloor to a spot where they, presumably, wanted her to dance with them.

Just as Selene disappeared from James's immediate view, Jordan came up beside him, and unfortunately for James she was nowhere near as intoxicated as Teagan and Freddie had been.

Jordan glanced towards the direction in which Selene had disappeared before turning to glare once more at James. She pointed her finger at him, poked him hard in the chest, and authoritatively and firmly dictated to him her entire feelings on that matter of him and Selene with one word.

"_Don't_."

* * *

**A/N:** Look at that! We only had to wait seven chapters for Selene to come back!

**N****ext Update:** The minute I get it finished, I promise. It may take some time but I'm not abandoning this story.

**Next Chapter:** Victoire and Teddy go house hunting, and then we have a nice big Weasley family dinner to get a chance to see what's going on with some other members of the family.

I want to thank everyone who has stayed with me throughout this entire process, especially those who leave me their thoughts on the story and who leave me reviews. Having feedback like that really helps and it gives me more encouragement to write.

Thank you as always to everyone who has followed, favoruited, read, and reviewed!

BIG thank yous as always to:

**rosesnlilies, Guest (1), saagarika, kit94, Dthea33, pointe15, no cure for crazy, bookstar97, Guest (2), Guest (3), Guest (4), Jily71102, Break This Spell626, Guest (5), Guest (6), **and** Elisa.**

**rosesnlilies: **Yup, I know that party didn't last too long, but those darn younger kids had a lot of antics to squeeze into the chapter.

**Guest (1):** I hope this chapter answers that question of whether Selene is 'in this story'. As for the rest, I guess we'll have to wait and see.

**kit94:** Kingsley is busy enough with being head of the auror department, and as the years went by Hermione slowly distanced herself from the ministry so she could work on some of her own projects.

**Dthea33:** Unfortunately, Martell still plays quidditch professionally, so there's a chance he might pop up again sometime.

**no cure for crazy:** I'm glad that you're open to listening to Benjamin's reasingin at least, romantic idealism is fun, but in the 'real world' with a child to help take care of Benjamin has to be more cautious about the choices he makes because they don't just affect him anymore.

**Jily71102:** I'm sure as you can tell from this chapter, James break up with Melanie is a bit of a mystery that will take a bit more time to unravel. We saw some Selene and a bit of their Hogwarts acquaintances (minus Nolan Finnegan), and according to my schedule we should be back at Hogwarts with the youngest of the kids within the next 3-4 chapters.

**Elisa:** Well I know this is a little late, but welcome to my wizarding world and I hope you enjoy the ride! And I'm sure as the date to the wedding gets closer we'll see more of Bill and Fleur involving themselves in their eldest daughter's life. I'm honoured that you like my story so much, and I can promise you that I have no intention of dropping this story for good. Thank you for your lovely review!

**I hope that you all enjoyed this chapter,**

**I would REALLY appreciate hearing some feedback to let me know if everyone's still hanging in there or not,**

**Take care until next time everyone,**

**And DFTBA!**


	7. Properties and Pique

**A/N:** Here's the next update everyone, think of it as a Thanksgiving treat! I updated about two weeks ago, so if you haven't read that least chapter please make sure you do.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own _Harry Potter_.

**Warning:** Vic gets a little angry and Dom's got no shame.

And Yes, I know that Fleur's got an accent but fricatives are hard for many people whose first language isn't English.

* * *

**Properties and Pique**

**Sunday, April 21st 2024**

**10:35 AM**

"Well now I know what purgatory looks like," Victoire muttered under her breath as she rubbed her hands on her jeans to wipe off some imaginary dust that she assumed she collected during their tour of the practically primeval mansion their harried real estate agent had brought them to.

Teddy wrapped his right arm around his fiancée's waist and pulled her towards his chest, "You mean spending hours looking at expensive mansion after expensive mansion that we'd never in a million years consider purchasing, with half of your family trailing behind us and touching everything that looks even remotely breakable, isn't your idea of a good time?"

The blonde glared up at the metamorphmagus and scowled at him, "Ally and Xavier didn't tell us how infuriating this process could be."

"Ally and Xavier didn't invite their family to go house hunting with them until they had a few candidates of houses that they were actually considering purchasing," Teddy reminded her.

Victoire crossed her arms over her chest and pouted, "I didn't invite half of our family to come with us. I only invited Ally and Xavier and Sandra and Kyle."

Teddy snorted in amusement, "It's cute that you actually believed that we could get away with all of this without your mother and your sister tagging along."

Victoire groaned and pushed her palms into her eyes, "I just can't believe that she had a real estate agent ready to show us properties at a moment's notice."

Before Teddy and Victoire were able to leave their flat that morning to get started on their house hunting adventure, Fleur and Dominique Weasley pushed their way through the couple's front door and started talking _at_ Victoire in rapid French. Teddy did his best to ignore it and slowly finished his cup of tea as he watched his fiancée's expression go from one of surprise to confusion, and then settle into a deep irritation at whatever her mother and sister were announcing to her. Victoire also slipped into French as she began to argue back with her mother and sister, and Teddy watched the clock on the wall until ten minutes of their bickering had passed without any of them either bothering to switch back to English so that he could understand what they were saying.

He interrupted them at that point and politely asked for some Cole's notes in English. Victoire was quick to provide him with a summary: Fleur had arranged for a real estate agent to take them that morning to tour a few properties that the agent had already lined up for them within their budget and to their specifications. When Teddy asked how this real estate agent knew what their budget and their specifications were Victoire threw her hands up in the air, pointedly stared at her mother as she said 'that's exactly the point', and then slipped back into French to argue once more with her mother and sister. Another five minutes passed in that fashion before Teddy was able to break through to her again, and by that point Victoire's emotional climate had settled on displeased resignation with whatever scheme her mother had concocted. On their way out of their flat to meet up with Ally, Xavier, Sandra, and Kyle at their pre-determined meeting point for the morning, Victoire quickly appraised Teddy of the situation and told him that no amount of arguing was going to convince Fleur to drop the topic, so it was easiest if they just went along with it for the morning and planned another more secret house hunting excursion at a later date when Victoire could assure that her mother would be too busy to attend.

Even with the sudden addition of her mother and sister, Victoire tried to be optimistic that a party of eight people wouldn't be too much of a burden when looking at houses. Unfortunately, when they arrived at their pre-arranged meeting place not only were Ally and Xavier and Sandra and Kyle already there, but so were –to both Victoire and Teddy's great surprise– her Uncle Harry, Uncle Ron, Aunt Audrey, and her cousins James, Freddie, and Molly.

Instead of trying to wrap her head around _why_ this odd assortment of her family members had decided to tag along on this milestone in her and Teddy's life, she just sighed in resignation and told everyone that the rules for their excursion that morning were simple: stay quiet (she glared at James and a somewhat hung-over looking Freddie), keep your hands to yourselves (again, she punctuated this statement by looking at the two youngest members of the group), and to keep up (this time her look was directed at Ron and Harry who she knew could become easily distracted when their current task wasn't a life or death situation).

It didn't surprise Victoire in the least that some of her family members couldn't follow these rules. Fleur, Dom, and even kind Ally couldn't keep their mouths shut as they peppered the real estate agent with question after question; Freddie, James, and –most annoyingly– _Kyle _couldn't keep their hands off of everything they were expressly forbade _not_ to touch; and everyone seemed to be breaking the rule about keeping up as Victoire and Teddy had already quickly vacated the latest mansion the real estate agent had dragged them to despite the fact that everyone else seemed to be taking their sweet time to evacuate the building.

"What in the world is taking them so long?" Victoire grumbled as she turned back to glare at the decrepit mansion she and Teddy had quickly vacated upon giving only the barest of glances to about half of the rooms.

The mansion behind them was dark, dusty, and dank, and even though most of those issues were things that they could change –as her mother, Uncle Harry, and Aunt Audrey kindly kept reminding her– the building itself just didn't _feel_ quite right, and she was glad that with one glance at Teddy's face she could tell that he also wasn't feeling the property. They eased out of the mansion hastily, and without the apparent knowledge of their real estate agent, but it seemed that the rest of their family and friends were still stuck inside asking useless questions and touching things and dusty surfaces that very well could contain a virus or two.

"Between the group of them, they're probably trying to commit everything about each of these places to memory so that they can give everyone else a full report later tonight at dinner," Teddy suggested with a heavy sigh as he leaned down to rest his chin on the top of Victoire's blonde head.

Victoire groaned and turned to press her face into Teddy's chest, "_Ugh_."

"So . . . not the one then?" Xavier's voice resonated around the couple as he, Ally, Sandra, and Kyle walked out of the mansion and towards the pair standing on the front lawn.

By the time their friends came to a stop around them, Victoire could see the rest of her family members slowly –but finally– trickling out of the mansion.

Teddy glanced up at Xavier to answer his question softly, "Not the one."

"I doubt any of these are going to be _the one_," Victoire grumbled, "If the past four properties this real estate agent has shown us this morning are any indication, I doubt anything she suggests with be even slightly agreeable."

Sandra slipped her hands into the pockets of her sweater, "Have you guys considered building a house instead? That way you can get everything you want."

"Oh!" Ally exclaimed excitedly, "That's a wonderful idea. In fact there's several empty lots around our house and I'm sure that-"

"No," Teddy interrupted Ally's suggestion in a tone of voice that was polite but also very firm. His eyes were wide and the tips of his hair had even changed to an uneasy yellow colour as he considered living in such close proximity to Ally and Xavier. Xavier's face had also gone white with dread during Ally's proposal but he didn't have the backbone to say right out to his fiancée that it was a bad idea.

Ally pouted at Teddy while Victoire glanced at her presently blue-and-yellow haired fiancé with a raised eyebrow. Her expression upon hearing Ally's half-finished proposition to build a house right next door to hers and Xavier's was guarded and Teddy couldn't get a good read on it. Not that it mattered at the moment.

"While that's a lovely suggestion Ally, I don't think building a house next to yours and Xavier's would be a good idea," Teddy explained curtly.

Ally put her hands on her hips, "Why not?"

"Because most times the entire expanse of Hogwarts grounds wasn't even enough for Victoire and Xavier when they got into one of their spats," Teddy reminded her.

The dark haired woman waved off the metamorphmagus's concern, "That was back when they were younger-"

"They were seventeen," Kyle muttered and then fake coughed to try to hide his words.

Ally ignored Kyle and continued, "And I think they've both matured and would be able to handle it now."

"I'd rather not build a new house just to have Victoire burn it down a week later once she and Xavier have an overdue argument about something seemingly innocuous," Teddy argued.

Victoire glared at her fiancée, "Xavier and I do not dangerously escalate arguments about innocuous things!"

"But you do," Sandra interrupted with an apologetic look sent in her best friend's direction, "Because all you and Xavier get enraged about are harmless disagreements. When it comes to serious topics you're both scarily on the same side of each debate."

Xavier cleared his throat, "As much as I'd love to have Victoire no more than half a mile from me and my home for the rest of my life until I die . . . perhaps a little distance might be best."

Ally threw her hands up in exasperation, "Fine! Forget I suggested it. I was just trying to help."

"I know Love," Xavier told his fiancée as he tossed his arm over her shoulder, "And building is a good suggestion . . . just maybe not so close to _us_."

Kyle stuck his hand up, "But they could-"

"No!" Teddy, Sandra, and Victoire all interrupted him at the same time, guessing what Kyle was about to propose.

Kyle sighed but didn't try to suggest it again.

"So what did you think of this property?" Their middle-aged real estate agent addressed Victoire and Teddy as she walked up to them, Fleur and Audrey only a few steps behind her.

"It's a little . . ." Teddy trailed off trying to think of a way to say something negative politely.

"Big," Victoire offered in as civil a tone she could muster.

The real estate agent's excited face fell a little in confusion, "Everyone likes to have a roomy house, and everyone who uses me to sell their homes with the intent of purchasing new ones are always looking for more space and more rooms you see-"

"It just didn't feel right," Victoire interrupted the other woman, "I couldn't see myself living there."

"Really?" The real estate agent asked with a frown, "You can't see yourself inviting your friends over for a nice little luncheon, or hosting a dinner party to impress your husband's colleagues?"

Victoire's eyes narrowed with annoyance while she could hear Xavier and Sandra both mutter 'uh-oh' under their breaths, "Nope. It's not going to happen. Not here."

She muttered 'not anywhere' under her breath and Teddy's hand found her arm and gave if a comforting squeeze.

"Maybe somewhere that already has a bit more of a homey feel?" Teddy suggested to the real estate agent before Victoire could stew more about the sexist statement their real estate agent just spewed.

The real estate agent nodded her head hurriedly, "Yes, of course yes. So we're looking for homey, but still with enough room for a potentially growing family?"

Victoire took a deep breath to calm herself, "_Yes_."

The real estate agent nodded her head, "Will you require extra room for live-in help?"

"_No_," Victoire stated firmly through gritted teeth while she heard Teddy exhale loudly from beside her.

The middle-aged woman just continued to nod her head as if she was taking mental notes, "Ah, good choice. There's nothing wrong with the wo-" She stopped her, sent a glance to Victoire who looked like she was getting ready to snap again, and re-worded what she was about to say, "With the partner who makes the least amount of money staying home with the children when the times comes. There's actually something very heroic in being a stay at home mo–parent."

Teddy pinched the bridge of his nose and quickly tightened his grip on Victoire's arm. The real estate agent didn't save that discussion quite as well as she thought she had.

Victoire let out a laugh that was biting and slightly hysterical, shook her arm out of Teddy's grip, and stomped away from the real estate agent. As she did so she called out to Harry, "Hey Uncle Harry! Did you hear that? Apparently Teddy's going to quit working when we have kids!"

Harry and Ron sent Victoire a confused glance, but they didn't seem too surprised to hear her yelling such a weird non-sequitur at them. Teddy sighed heavily, barely excused himself from the real estate agent, and hastily paced after Victoire. When he caught up to her, he grabbed her hand and interlaced their fingers. She stopped once he touched her and turned to face him. Teddy brought their interlaced hands up to his face and pressed a kiss to her knuckles.

"I'm sorry about that."

The blonde let out a slightly choppy sigh, indicating to Teddy that she _was_ trying to control her temper, "It's not your fault that even in this day and age most of society assumes that the male is the one who brings home the most money."

Teddy dropped their hands from his face and slowly placed a kiss to Victoire's temple to try calm her down a bit more, "I know, but I'm still sorry."

"It's not just because people _assume_ that men make more money," Dom's voice joined the conversation as she suddenly popped up behind her big sister, "But it's also because a lot of men _do_ make more money compared to women with the same education, experience, and position. That gender pay gap is a real bitch."

Teddy could feel Victoire's hand start to warm, and he knew that it wasn't brought on naturally. Dom's words were riling her up again even though he was doing his best to calm her down.

"Thank you Dom," Teddy told his future sister-in-law dismissively, "But I don't think that's something we need to discuss right this moment."

"Because putting off discussions about social injustices until everyone _feels _ready to listen to it is a great idea, it's not like people will still be taken advantaged of while we wait," Dom complained as she crossed her arms over her chest.

"Dom-"

"And people don't care about it until it hits home for them. I mean, how can we even be sure that Victoire's getting paid the same amount as her colleagues at St. Mungo's? How do we know that right now Healer Fabius isn't getting paid more than Vic even though they began in the same positon at the exact same time?" Dom asked with a raised eyebrow.

Victoire's hand was really getting hot in Teddy's grasp, and he idly wondered if he would end up with a first degree burn from her palm.

"In fact-"

"_Dominique Gabrielle_, I t'ink t'ats enough for now," Fleur stated decisively as she walked over to the group.

Dom rolled her eyes and then flounced away as if stirring up trouble and her older sister's anger was just a fun hobby for her. Teddy knew that it _was_, but he figured she could have picked a better time for it.

"Don't blame Dom for something that _your_ stupid real estate agent started," Victoire whirled on her mother. She finally dropped Teddy's hand, and he did his best not to make it seem as though he was grateful to be saved from the heat of her hand.

Fleur was much calmer than her daughter, "I know t'at she might 'ave said some t'ings t'at rubbed you t'e wrong way Victoire, but-"

"Oh, I don't care that she said rude things to me," Victoire told her mother as she ignored the sudden scoffing noises Teddy's was trying to hide under his breath, "I could ignore that –and end up with an ache in my jaw from grinding my teeth– but I could ignore it if she was actually good at her job. But she's not."

"Victoire-"

"I mean the houses –no the _mansions_ she keeps showing us keep getting increasingly ridiculous! Teddy and I didn't even want to use a real estate agent in the first place!"

"I know t'at _Chère_, but just because you deed not _want _one does not mean t'at you do not _need _one," Fleur disputed.

Victoire put her hands on her hips, "Because you don't believe that Teddy and I can handle this by ourselves?"

"Because I do not want you to end up wit anot'er ulcer, or worse!" Fleur argued in a gentle tone. She reached forward and placed her hands on her eldest daughter's cheeks.

"_Maman_ I won't-"

Fleur ignored her, "But you might. You are planning a wedding, you are a 'ealer 'oo works almost eighty 'ours a week, you are working on legalizing a medical spell with 'Ealer McDavid, and you 'ave now decided t'at you want to find a 'ouse. You 'ave developed ulcers before with less t'an 'alf of t'is amount on your plate."

Victoire tried to keep her frown firm but the heartfelt concern in her mother's voice was doing a real number on what she though was her justifiable anger.

"Maman I can handle all of this-"

Teddy nudged her in the side gently before wrapping an arm around her waist, "Maman _we_ can handle all of this. Besides, it's not like we have a specific deadline for buying a house. We have lots of time."

Fleur let out a small chuckle and patted Victoire's cheek, "We 'ave 'ad t'is conversation before _mon Chère_. You are eempatient and you do not like to wait. You and Teddy are going to start your family as soon as you get married and t'en you will 'ave one more t'ing to worry about w'ile also trying to find a 'ouse before t'e baby comes."

"That's-"

"Not necessarily incorrect," Teddy interrupted what he was sure was going to be Victoire's quick denial. He stared at her eyes and she frowned. She disliked it when her fiancé _and_ her mother were both right.

Victoire pushed a loose strand of hair behind her ear, "Fine. But you have to admit that that real estate agent is awful. Did you not meet her before today Maman?"

"Yes, I know she is a little . . . much . . . but she came 'ighly recommended and after reading your portfolio and specifications she seemed excited to start working wit you," Fleur explained.

Just saying the words specifications raised Victoire's hackles, Teddy could almost physically feel it, "That's another thing. How could she know what our specifications are if we haven't spoken about them yet? Obviously _you_ told her what _we_ could afford."

Fleur rolled her eyes, "You and Teddy detest talking about your finances. I t'ought we would avoid all of t'at uncomfortableness and I could just inform your real estate agent of your budget."

"And you didn't think that that would come across as even the slightest bit controlling?" Victoire questioned her mother in a clearly sarcastic tone.

"You might not believe me, but guaranteeing to a real estate agent t'at a client can afford to purchase a 'ome, pay insurance, as well as all of t'e ot'er added 'idden costs t'at come wit buying a 'ouse are part of a financial advisor's job," Fleur explained.

Victoire pouted but her body relaxed a bit into Teddy's side, "And do all financial advisors do this for their clients?"

"I cannot speak for all financial advisors, but as a financial advisor I would do t'at for all of _my_ clients . . . alt'ough I might not physically go wit t'em to vist t'e properties," Fleur said softly, a bit of a smile curling her lips at the end of her statement.

Teddy smiled gently at Fleur, "Fair enough. Right Victoire?"

Victoire was still pouting; she hadn't expected her mother to have such a solid defense for when she accused her of being too overbearing in her life in this situation. As much as she loved to argue with her mother, she couldn't argue with the fact that Fleur's responses were valid.

"I will apologize 'owever, for all of t'ese awful mansions t'is real estate agent keeps bringing us to. I told 'er t'at you two are more on t'e simple and unassuming side, but apparently all she saw was your potential budget and t'ought t'at she could come out of t'is wit a good commission."

Victoire sighed and reached forward to give her mother a hug, "Well now there's nothing left for me to be angry about."

Fleur laughed and hugged her daughter back. A second later Teddy's arms snaked out from behind Victoire and he pulled both blondes into a hug. Fleur laughed louder this time and patted the part of Teddy's arm that was closest to her reach.

The hug broke up before it could feel awkward, and Teddy walked away from them shortly after when he heard Ron calling his name.

Once Teddy was out of hearing range Victoire raised an eyebrow at her mother, "Not that I don't love Uncle Harry and Uncle Ron, and not that Teddy isn't happy that Uncle Harry at least is here for this . . . but is there a specific reason _why _you invited them to join this circus?"

"I was trying to be optimistic and I t'ought t'at if you and Teddy found a property t'at you liked t'at we would need 'Arry and Ron around to check for stress lines," Fleur said as if the answer was obvious.

Victoire's eyebrows narrowed over her blue eyes, "Pardon? What are stress lines?"

"Magical stress lines . . . or per'aps t'e correct Eenglish translation is fault line? You know, areas of magical pressure 'idden in t'e natural environment," Fleur tried to explain although she didn't seem to be confident in her own words.

"Magical fault lines?" Victoire repeated in confusion.

"Yes, t'ey are imperative to take into consideration w'en placing protective and defensive spells on dwellings and properties."

Victoire's face was still one of confusion.

"T'e basic principles of ecological enchantments and t'e study of geological conjuring?" Fleur added as if that would make more sense to Victoire.

"I have no idea what you're talking about Maman."

Fleur sighed and then muttered something under her breath about 'the atrocious gaps in Hogwarts' education system'.

"Just trust t'at t'ey are 'ere for a reason ot'er t'an to irritate you."

Victoire took a deep breath and exhaled slowly through her nose, "Alright."

Sandra and Ally came upon the mother-daughter pair soon after and shyly told Victoire that the real estate agent was excited to move onto the next _home_.

Fleur placed her arm around her daughter's shoulders, "Come on _Chère_, 'oo knows? T'is next one may be t'e one."

"Yeah," Sandra added with a bright smile, "Maybe this next house is within quick apparation distance to our place!"

Victoire turned her head to look at Kyle a few metres away where he was talking to Xavier and James, and then she looked back at Sandra and raised an eyebrow at her, "Was that supposed to sound encouraging or like a threat?"

Sandra shrugged and then grabbed Victoire's hand and began to pull her towards the real estate agent, "Whichever gets you moving faster."

* * *

**5:41 PM**

"So how did house hunting go?" Louis Weasley asked his oldest sister as they each grabbed a basket filled with bread and walked it from the Burrow's kitchen into the dining room.

Victoire eyed her brother, "I'm sorry, were you not there in the crowd with us? I could have sworn that the entire family tagged along."

Louis snorted at her whinging and set his basket of bread down at the end of the table where the 'older adults' would sit for Sunday night dinner, "Be careful what you complain about _ma chère sœur_, because if you want the entire family to go with you the next time you and Teddy look at houses, we can be there."

"No thank you," Victoire answered hastily. She knew that Louis was only teasing, but just the thought of the actual entirety of her family tagging along the next time she and Teddy went out looking for a house made her skin crawl.

Not that the excursion that morning had been that bad . . . or more appropriately, it wasn't as if the supreme failure that was house hunting that morning was even her family's fault. She was quite happy to leave the blame with the annoying real estate agent, and hope for a better turn out next time. Although Teddy and Victoire had decided that less was definitely more when it came to their entourage for house hunting; or at least in the beginning stages.

Louis reached out his hand to squeeze Victoire's arm, stopping her from walking back into the kitchen, "Hey, all teasing aside I really do hope that you and Teddy find what you're looking for soon. Did seeing those houses today at least help you narrow down some ideas of what you do and don't want?"

"In a way. We know that we definitely don't want anything even close to what we saw today. All of the places she took us to were humongous mansions with large tacky grounds, some of them didn't even look like they'd been lived in for about twenty or thirty years," Victoire expounded.

Her brother sent her an apologetic look, "Maybe the next ones will be more to your taste?"

"That's the hope," She said with a mocking twirl of her finger, "Although our real estate agent eventually did apologize for showing us the properties that she did. Apparently she read our current real estate portfolio and assumed that we would be looking to buy a property similar to the ones in that one."

A blonde brow rose over Louis's eye, "You already have a real estate portfolio?"

"_Teddy_ already has a real estate portfolio," Victoire clarified as she ran a hand through her loose blonde hair, "So in that sense the real estate agent was correct I guess; large properties that belonged to high society purebloods that looked like they haven't been properly lived in for years _was_ sort of within theme."

Louis nodded his head, "_Ahh_, so his entire real estate portfolio is made up of the places he inherited form the Blacks and the Lestranges?"

"Yes, which really annoyed him. Although he was rather grateful that he didn't actually have to explain any of it to the agent in person and that Maman did that already for us; which only served to annoy _me_," Victoire said, her words sounding a smidge like a rant.

Her brother smirked, "Because she's maddeningly meddling in your life but in a way that can be perfectly explained so as not to make her _seem_ as though she's a helicopter parent?"

"Exactly!"

Louis snickered.

"Don't laugh," Victoire demanded even though her own lips were starting to turn up at the edges, "Wait until she starts doing it more to _you_. My wedding planning has been giving you a reprieve for two years, but once I say 'I do' she's going to put all of that energy into_ your_ life and most likely your relationship with Cecilia. I wouldn't be surprised if Maman already has some lovely options for engagement rings picked out for you."

His face went white, "_Or_ she can keep that energy focused on you because it'll only be a short matter of time before you become impregnated with her first grandchild."

"But," She countered as she placed her hands on her hips, "Once I get a wedding ring on my finger and a bun in the oven she will be pushing _you_ even more for at least one of those things."

Louis made a face, "Maybe together we can convince Maman that Dom is a lost soul who needs her loving guidance? I'm sure she could waste a lot of energy on trying to get Dom to agree to a relationship that lasts longer than six weeks."

Victoire pursed her lips as she considered the suggestion, "No chance. Dom's done an excellent job of driving Mum up the wall these past several years. Now Dom could happily enter into a simple monogamous relationship and Mum would be happy enough to leave her alone for at least another three to five years."

"So you're saying our mistake was falling in love too early?"

"Yeah, seems like it."

Victoire nudged her brother with her shoulder, "But seriously, how are things with you and Cecilia?"

Louis eyed his sister warily, "They're great, and normal . . . why?"

"Just checking in," She assured him, "And all teasing from _me_ aside, don't let Mum or anyone try to pressure you into something you're not ready for."

He smiled at her.

"Except for Cecilia, I think history has shown that when it comes to her she knows just when to push you."

Louis rolled his eyes, "Because she kissed me first when we were thirteen while I was still in denial about my feelings for her?"

"Exactly."

Before Louis could figure out if there was even the slightest bit of insult in his sister's advice, the door of the dining room pushed open and Ally and Cecilia walked in, them both of them carrying large bowls of salad.

"What are you two talking about in here?" Ally asked curiously.

"Nothing!" Victoire replied in a sunny tone as she took the salad bowl from Ally's hands, handed it over to Louis, and then pushed Ally back out the door and into the kitchen, Victoire following behind her, and effectively leaving Louis and Cecilia alone in the dining room.

Ally raised an eyebrow at her favourite cousin, "What was that about?"

Victoire shrugged but didn't reply. Instead she walked out of the kitchen and towards the living room leaving Ally no choice but to follow as there was no other task for her to complete to prepare for dinner.

In the living room both women wandered over to the corner near the fireplace where the rest of their cousins were congregated. Teddy, Xavier, and Baxter were chatting about something they'd all read in _The Daily Prophet_ that morning, while Molly and Dom were giggling over something on an open page of a _Witch Weekly_ magazine that they were splitting between them. Lucy sat a few feet away from them and was swirling wine around a stemless wineglass, and Freddie and James sat on the same sofa and looked close to falling asleep.

"I take it you lot had a late night last night?" Lucy asked the two drowsy troublemakers idly.

Freddie groaned in response while James shrugged, "_I _only had a few drinks so I didn't feel too bad waking up this morning."

"I felt great," Baxter added with a smile.

Victoire shot him a thumbs up and then she and Ally settled onto the floor next to the unlit fireplace.

"Well I feel like I definitely had more fun than the both of you put together . . . so _there_," Freddie announced with a smirk.

Lucy rolled her eyes, "What's the point of a having a good time if you don't remember it?"

Freddie frowned at her.

"It was just you lot and Cecilia and Louis that went last night, yeah?" Molly asked, taking her eyes off of the magazine and looking at the youngest of their group.

James nodded his head.

"You didn't invite any of your other friends out? I'd assume that Nolan Finnegan would always be up for loud music, alcohol, and scantily clad people the same age as him," Dom piped up; also disregarding the magazine for the moment.

"Nolan Finnegan was not there," Freddie confirmed, "Although we did run into his ex-girlfriend."

"Who would that be?" Molly queried.

"Teagan Childs, she was in Gryffindor with us, mine and James's year though," Freddie explained.

Lucy swirled her wine around her glace once more, "Run into anyone else you recognized there?"

"Yeah, Teagan was there with some of her mates who were also in Gryffindor. There was Jordan-" Freddie paused in his explanation and sent James a look that said that he had no idea what Jordan's last name was.

James rolled his eyes, "Jordan _Simpson_. She was in the same classes with you for seven years Mate."

Freddie shrugged, "So Teagan and _Miss Simpson_ were there with Selene Spiros last night."

James was grateful that he was the only one who noticed Teddy shooting him a sideways look at the mention of Selene's name.

"Selene Spiros . . . is she not the one who played quidditch with you at Hogwarts? She's on a professional reserve team now, isn't she?" Molly questioned straightforwardly.

"She's a centre chaser for the Harpies's reserve team," James supplied in a purposely even tone that was devoid of any specific type of emotion.

Molly snapped her fingers, "Yes, now I remember."

"According to Teagan, she and Jordan had to practically drag Selene out of her flat last night. I guess all she really does is go to quidditch practice, work out, go home and eat something, and then sleep," Freddie added conversationally.

Xavier smirked, "That sounds about right considering she's in her first year of being on a reserve squad for a professional league."

"I'm sure that James does the same thing most nights," Ally added with a fond smile in James direction.

The eldest Potter child nodded his head indiscriminately, and then he was relatively silent as Freddie kept talking about the night before and answering Molly and Dom's questions about the club. By the time Freddie got to the portion of the night that was blurry in his memory, Lucy was openly scoffing at him.

"I'm amazed that you even made it out of bed before noon today."

Dom rolled her eyes at Lucy's tone, "And what were you so busy with this morning that you couldn't join us in house hunting-"

Victoire leaned over and patted Lucy's leg and told her sincerely, "Thank you for not showing up by the way. I very much appreciated it."

"So what were you up to?" Dom finished as if Victoire hadn't interrupted her.

Lucy was suddenly very interested in her glass of wine.

"Oh, oh oh," Dom exclaimed in glee, "There must be a story or you wouldn't be sitting here all quiet. Now what is it? Was there a bloke involved? There must have been a bloke involved."

Lucy's cheeks went red, "Okay, so I might have had a coffee date this morning . . . but it was no big deal."

"C'mon Lucy don't sell yourself short," Ally told her younger cousin sweetly.

"Yeah, give us all of the details! What does he look like? What does he do? What's his name?" Dom started peppering Lucy with questions.

Lucy hesitated in answering and she swallowed thickly. At first glance her reluctance seemed like shyness, but when Victoire looked at her longer she noted that the younger redhead seemed more worried than anything else.

"Lucy . . ." Victoire said her name like a question.

Lucy automatically looked up and made eye contact with Victoire. She immediately regretted it.

"Lucy," Victoire said her cousin's name much more firmly that time, "Who were you having coffee with this morning?"

Ally was taken aback by Victoire's suddenly severe tone, Dom seemed more surprised by it than startled, and Molly's eyes narrowed into slits as she inspected her older sister.

"_No_," Molly said in a gasp as she read her sister's face, "Tell me it's not true."

Ally was still perplexed, "What's not true?"

Dom groaned and face-palmed her forehead when she caught on to what Victoire and Molly had already deduced, "Not Austin _bloody _Pennington?"

Lucy looked down at her wineglass, but she did nod her head ever so slightly.

"Really Lucy?" Molly asked her sister with a sad shake of her head.

Victoire pinched the bridge of her nose in irritation, "Lucy, I thought you were finally done with all of this back and forth a month ago when you finally decided that you were better off with the 'off' part of your on-again off-again relationship."

"It was just coffee guys. Nothing actually happened this morning," Lucy told her cousins with an eye roll.

"Thank Merlin," Victoire muttered as she looked up at the roof.

Dom had another opinion, "No. That's actually worse. 'Nothing happened' means that you actually sat there and talked to the prat. At least if _something_ happened then we could explain away your terrible momentary lapse in judgement as you just being swayed by an urge for good sex."

Everyone around them made a face while Victoire looked like she was actually going to vomit at the mention of Austin Pennington and the word sex in the same sentence.

Dom soldiered on, "_That _I would understand at least. I mean who among us haven't gone back to and ex that maybe wasn't the best for us, just because the sex was good?

Ally and Victoire both gave Dom very specific looks at that statement, and Dom rolled her eyes at them, "Well besides these two of course, who've been with the same bloke since they were seventeen."

"Could we just please circle this discussion back to the fact that Lucy went back to that _arsehole_-" Molly began only for Lucy to angrily cut her off.

"This is my life Molly and I can do what I want, when I want-"

"And whoever you want," Dom muttered not-so-quietly with a wicked smirk.

Victoire slapped her hand on her leg, "Expect for Austin because we've already established that he's not worthy of your time or effort, or-"

As the girls continued to argue with each other, James felt a tap on his shoulder. He glanced up and saw Teddy withdrawing his hand and nodding his head in the direction of the foyer. James slowly stood up to follow Teddy out of the living room, and noted that the girls (and Baxter and Freddie who had also decided that they wanted to join the 'bash on Austin fest') were all making so much noise that nobody really noticed Teddy and James's movement or absence.

Once in the foyer Teddy sat himself down on a step of the staircase that led upstairs, "So are you okay?"

"Despite how uncomfortable _that_ was, I do believe I've heard worse come out of Dom's mouth before," James told his god brother in a –somewhat forced– amused tone of voice.

Teddy let out a small sigh, "You know that's not what I'm talking about."

James copied his exhale and then sat down on the step just one below Teddy's, "I know."

"I'm not looking for a complete emotional confession, I'd just like to know that you're okay," Teddy said as he placed his hand comfortingly on James's shoulder.

The eldest Potter child ran a hand through his black hair distractedly, "I'm fine."

"Did you have a chance to talk to her last night?"

James's heart skipped a beat and he instinctively knew that Teddy wasn't talking about Cecilia, Teagan, Jordan, or any other nameless girl from the club.

"Yeah, we spoke to each other."

Teddy's hand squeezed a little tighter on James's shoulder, "Was that the first time you've spoken to her since . . . since graduation?"

James nodded his head. His dark hair was getting a little long, so the motion made the fringe at the front flop into his eyes, "I've seen her a handful of times in the last year, but we never really moved past normal pleasantries before one of us made an excuse to leave. So . . . yeah, that was the first time we've actually spoken since . . . graduation."

"What did you talk about?"

A spontaneous smile slipped onto the younger man's face, "Quidditch."

"Of course you did," Teddy replied with a hint of exasperated fondness in his voice, "But what specifically?"

James felt his cheeks heat up, "I told her that she slipped into her old habit of over-extending her elbow the last time she played on the starting team and that it cost her three goals."

"Excellent, because girls love it when their faults are pointed out to them in detail," Teddy told James sarcastically.

The words did nothing to stop the increased beating of James's heart as he thought back to his conversation with Selene, "I was just giving her advice. She started it actually, because she told me that I did a good job covering for Nadia, but that if I'm going to play centre chaser again I'll need to work on catching cross my midline because I was close to fumbling the quaffle seven times."

"Well if _she_ started it," The older man replied in a teasing tone.

James pulled at his hair again, "Not that her advice matters too much. It's not like I'm going to cover for Nadia again anytime soon."

Teddy stayed silent at that point and redirected the conversation just slightly, "Did you enjoy talking to her?"

A warm smile slipped onto his face, "Yes, she . . . she just gets it. Quidditch and training and all of that stuff."

"I'm sure she does," Teddy replied calmly.

There was a companionable beat of silence between them, during which time James's mind was _not_ thinking about sitting on a staircase next to his god-brother.

"Does thinking about it still make you feel guilty?" Teddy asked gently.

James groaned and pulled at his hair again, "A little bit. Sometimes. I tell myself that I didn't actually do anything wrong –which I didn't. But sometimes I wish that I could have convinced Mélanie of that, even after our break-up. Or at least convince her that the rumours weren't true and that Selene didn't actually play a part in it."

"Have you been in contact with Mélanie since graduation?"

He sighed, "Forget graduation, she stopped talking to me right after the break up."

Teddy nodded his head.

"Nowadays it's not so much guilt as it is worry. Especially after seeing Selene last night and talking about our careers. If even a bit of the gossip about how mine and Mélanie's relationship ended got leaked in the news it could be detrimental to our images," James explained sadly.

Teddy didn't have to ask to know whose professional image James was most worried about. He clapped James on the shoulder again, but before he could offer any other brotherly-type advice, Victoire's head popped around the corner of the foyer and told them that Grandma Molly was calling them to dinner.

The promise of food ensured that everyone would get settled at the table quickly, and whatever argument had been going on between Lucy and the rest of her cousins and sister was put on hold while everyone filled their glasses with drink and plates and bowls with food.

"So how did house hunting go today?" Aunt Angelina asked cheerily from a few people away from Victoire. She had been at the hospital that afternoon so she hadn't arrived until just before dinner, and she had yet to ask about that morning's family excursion.

Victoire groaned and stared at the large soup bowl full of pea soup sitting in front of her, "Grandma Molly, do you think this bowl holds enough liquid for me to drown myself in?"

"I don't doubt that there's enough there Victoire, but my larger concern would be that when you got to the after-world _my_ grandmother would be quite bothered that you chose her favourite soup recipe to suffocate yourself in," The matriarch of the Weasley family told her eldest grandchild with a calm shrug of her shoulders.

Victoire glowered at the savoury smelling fluid in her bowl, "I think I'll take that chance."

She then leaned forward quickly, aiming her face for the open surface of the bowl, only to be stopped by Teddy throwing his hand out over her bowl from his seat next to her, and effectively halting her head's journey. Her forehead landed in the palm of his hand with a quiet _smack_ing sound.

"Hey!" Victoire complained as she exhaled in annoyance.

Teddy lifted her head back up and away from her bowl, and then placed his arm over her shoulder to pull her into a side hug, "I think you're being just a tad dramatic Love. There's no use ruining everyone else's dinner just because you detest our real estate agent."

"Says the man that didn't have to listen to said real estate agent explain that the rationale for the secret passageway in the master bedroom of the last mansion we visited was historically for the masters of the mansion to sneak their mistresses in late at night, but that I didn't need to worry about that because the door can be magically sealed, and because I'm rather pretty anyway," Victoire complained; she didn't even bother to hide the disdain in her voice.

Her fiancé bit his cheek to hide a snicker and he pressed a kiss to her loose blonde hair, "Well it was nice of her to call you pretty."

"Got it," George piped in with a wicked smirk, "No talk about Victoire and Teddy buying a house. Shall I ask about wedding preparations, or is that a taboo topic as well?"

Fleur clapped her hands in excitement at the mention of the word 'wedding', while Victoire sighed tiredly. The soonest bride-to-be tried a spoonful of the pea soup in front of her, muttered that it would have been a shame to waste it like she had planned, and then glanced up at her cousins at the table.

"Actually, we should talk about the wedding because there are a few things I want to make sure that I say aloud so that no one can claim that they didn't know about it," Victoire took another sip of her soup.

"So, first thing's first," She glanced at Lucy, "No Austin at my wedding."

She looked at Dom next, "_You _are not to touch any part of Konstantin Krum's body."

Dom pouted and ripped a chunk of bread off of her bun.

Victoire pointed at Xavier next, "And you-"

"I don't care what you say, I'm bringing Ally as my date," Xavier interrupted her with a cheeky grin.

Victoire rolled her eyes, "Whatever. What I _was_ going to tell you is that you're responsible for keeping Eilionoir Wood in line during the reception."

"My grandmother? Why is my grandmother invited to yours and Teddy's wedding?" Xavier asked perplexedly.

"Because she's a friend of my Grandmum's," Teddy explained with a shrug.

Victoire moved her pointer finger to James and Freddie, "And you two are to bring dates. Appropriate dates that will not make a scene, and that will hopefully stop you lot from tipsily hitting on other wedding guests."

James nodded understandingly while Freddie made a show of rolling his eyes at his eldest cousin's words. The blonde bride ignored the pair and turned to Baxter.

"You on the other hand, I encourage you to invite someone that you generally think you might fancy as your wedding date. It might be a bold move to invite her to a large family function so soon in a relationship, but most of our family will probably be too distracted to properly take the piss out of you that day, so it might be a good idea anyway," She told Baxter in a more reasonable tone than the one she gave James and Freddie.

Cecilia was the last person Victoire rounded on, "And you-"

"Watch the champagne consumption?" Cecilia suggested with a cheeky grin scarily similar to her older brother's.

"No. Well, yes, that's a good recommendation for everyone though. Your main job however, is to pre-vet _their_ choices in dates before the day of. You get veto power and then that's one less thing for me to worry about."

Cecilia shrugged her shoulders, "Alright, I can do that."

Baxter, James, and Freddie looked a little put out that their dates would have to be vetted by Cecilia beforehand, but all three of them were smart enough _not_ to verbalize their annoyance with Victoire's directive.

"Any rules for the wedding for me?" Molly asked curiously as she served herself more salad from the large salad bowl.

Victoire thought about it for a minute and then shook her head, "No Mols, I trust you not to do anything that will give me a stress migraine."

Molly pouted, "Well now I just sound boring."

Dom patted her on the hand and winked at her, "I'll make sure you have the opportunity to make some questionable choices during the reception when Victoire and Teddy are too busy to notice."

Victoire sent her sister a glare, but Molly seemed relieved that the reception wasn't guaranteed to be a bore.

A few moments later Ally held her hand up to get the attention of her brother and cousins, "By the way, despite the abrasiveness of Victoire's commands, all of her rules are ditto for our wedding."

Dom's smirked wickedly, "So you're inviting Konstantin Krum to your wedding too?"

Ally and Victoire gave Dom a look, and it was severe enough to warrant Molly whispering to Dom that she should stop before she gave either or both brides an apoplexy.

There was a pause in conversation as everybody had a chance to eat a bit more food, and as Freddie helped himself to a second glass of wine he glanced in Victoire's direction with a wicked smirk on his face.

"So Vic . . . what exactly would you describe as an appropriate wedding date?"

Victoire grabbed a piece of bread and began buttering it, "Well if you happen upon someone you think is attractive and start to chat them up and ask them out on a date, and they say 'yes' right away, that is someone who's probably not appropriate."

"Why?" Freddie asked with more than a little confusion.

"Because anybody who's appropriate would probably shoot you down the first or even the second and third time before agreeing to go out with you," Victoire replied matter-of-factly.

Freddie frowned at her, "And why do you think this?"

Victoire shrugged, "Because the only girls who you'd attract at first glance are probably a little trashy."

"And that's bad because . . . ?" Freddie trailed off with a grin instead of feeling criticized.

"Because I don't want trashy at my wedding!"

Freddie pursed his lips and took a long sip of wine from his glass, "I'm still not convinced."

Victoire practically growled at him and then she threw her newly buttered bun at her cousin's red head. The force with which she threw the bun at his head caused the projectile to actually hurt a little, especially since it hit Freddie right in the left eye.

"Ouch!" Freddie explained reflexively as he reached up to put pressure on his now injured eye.

Victoire didn't apologize, and she even went so far as to cross her arms over her chest and mutter loudly, "You're lucky that I didn't throw the butter knife at you instead."

"Merlin you've been quick to anger today Victoire," Molly stated as she pulled some ice-cubes out of her water glass, wrapped it in a linen napkin, and then offered it to Freddie for his eye.

Dom lifted her glass of wine to her lips and looked contemplatively at her sister, "Yeah, you've had some major mood swings lately."

"Well it _is_ that time of the month," Louis muttered into the rim of his glass of water.

Victoire sent a heated glare to her little brother.

"I meant because the full moon's on Wednesday," Louis reminded her as he set his glass down on the table.

"But you don't see anybody else at this table going from zero to bitchy in ten seconds flat because of it," Dom argued with the intention of annoying her sister even more.

Teddy moved his hand to cover Victoire's on the table, mostly to stop her from following through with her threat of chucking her butter knife at someone, and cleared his throat, "Perhaps a different topic might be more conducive to a calmer conversation?"

"Sure," Ally piped up quickly, she was always ready to keep a family argument from escalating more than it already had, "Baxter, have you been working on any interesting projects at work lately?"

Baxter didn't really have anything of interest or importance to reply with, but he did his best to relay a banal story that wouldn't be able to anger anyone at the table. Victoire spent the rest of dinner time slowly eating her food so that her mouth would be occupied and unable to get into an argument with anyone else.

* * *

**A/N:** So house hunting didn't go quite as expected, and Victoire's a little put out that her mother had such good reasoning for interfering. (Although she doesn't see the irony in her dictating to James and Freddie that they needed Cecilia approved dates for the wedding.)

But what did we think of this chapter? We got a bit more background on some of the characters, and we're slowly moving forward in other ways.

**Next Update:** Not quite sure when but I do have the next chapter half-finished, so I will post it once it's finished.

**Next Chapter:** We get a peek a how Teddy and Jilly plan to train the younger aurors, and Nadia and Malcolm speak with Puddlemere publicists about their pregnancy.

Thank you again to everyone for following, favouriting, reading, and especially reviewing!

BIG thank yous as always to:

**zvc56, blah345, kit94, Guest (1), Guest (2), Katia0203, Gnool, cjaben1, Break This Spell626, Guest (3), audrey3horses, Saagarika, CrackHeadBlonde, Guest (4), Rensk3N, NicoleTheSmith, rosesnlilies, **and** bookstar97**.

**blah345:** It's nice to hear that you've been with me for so long and that you're still hanging on!

**kit94:** That probably wouldn't be a good behaviour to model for your students ;) And I'm glad to hear that you still like re-reading the series. Sometimes re-reading Try Tri Again makes me cringe because it's nowhere near the level I'm at now, but everyone gets better at things the more they practice.

**Guest (1):** There was a smidgeon more about the 'incident' here, and it seems that Teddy knows all about it.

**Gnool:** Well I'd _hate_ to unintentionally bring on a meltdown . . . ;)

**Break This Spell626:** Baxter is a sweetheart, hopefully other people start to realize it soon too.

**audrey3horses:** I'm sorry to hear about your grandmother, but I'm glad that this story at least offers you some comfort and escape even for a little while.

**CrackHeadBlonde:** I'm glad that all of the characters and storylines don't seem too overwhelming. I never start a story with intention of absolutely all of the storylines that go into them, but somehow there always ends up being lots.

**NicoleTheSmith:** Thank you for always sticking with me.

**I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter,**

**Please let me know what you thought of it in a Review,**

**If you have any questions or concerns you can drop them in a review or a PM,**

**I hope all of my fellow Canadians have a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend!**

**And DFTBA!**


	8. Announcements and Training

**A/N:** Hello everyone. I want to thank you guys for being so patient with me, and I hope you enjoy this next chapter.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own _Harry Potter._

* * *

**Recap:** Nadia's pregnant and she's been feeling the symptoms of it pretty badly, and she needs to tell her coaches that she's pregnant and can't play quidditch until the baby's born. Jilly and Teddy are on newbie-auror-training duty, and they are both excited and not to take on the role. James recently played for Puddlemere's starting team a week ago in the position of centre-chaser, even though he normally plays right-wing chaser, because both Nadia and their reserve centre-chaser were down for the count.

* * *

**Announcements and Training**

**Tuesday, April 23rd 2024**

**8:24 PM**

"One cream and one sugar, right Teddy?" Jilly Donaldson asked her partner as she handed him a mug full of tea she had just gotten him from the break room.

Teddy nodded in agreement and then thanked Jilly. She sat down at her own desk and took a sip from her mug of coffee.

"I thought pregnant women were supposed to avoid caffeine?" Teddy asked her curiously.

Jilly rolled her eyes, "I'm allowed one cup of decaf a day, and I know I'm going to need it now instead of later."

"Fair enough," Teddy agreed with a nod as he took another sip of his own tea.

The two aurors sat at their desks for the next serval minutes, sipping their beverages in companionable silence before the other two aurors they shared the office with whirled into the room.

Aurors Hayden Summers and Kurt Williamson stopped whatever conversation they were originally having mid-sentence when they spotted their partners sitting at their desks.

"What are you two doing here? Shouldn't you be teaching the trainees?" Hayden asked perplexedly as his eyes bounced between Teddy drinking his tea and Jilly sipping her coffee.

Teddy's eyes automatically glanced at the clock on the wall, "Yup."

"Then why aren't you there?" Kurt questioned as he threw himself down in his own desk chair.

"Yeah," Hayden added quickly, "Did you not just scare the life out of all of those trainees yesterday with your introductory speech on how you two weren't go to accept any unpunctuality or tardiness for any of your lessons or sessions?"

Teddy and Jilly had introduced themselves to their auror trainees the day before, and they had decided to start out with a _very_ firm approach to show their trainees that they weren't going to take any rubbish from them. So, Teddy and Jilly had arrived an hour early the day before and had waited in the conference room the trainees had been using as their classroom for their lessons throughout the year.

Once the first trainees started to enter Teddy and Jilly didn't say anything to them or even give them direct eye-contact, instead they both took out a little notepad and began writing on them every time a new trainee came in. Every few minutes Teddy and Jilly would put their heads together and they would whisper to each other just to amp up the anticipation in the room. All of the trainees did end up coming into the room before their lesson for that day was supposed to start, and right at eight o'clock Teddy and Jilly closed their notebooks and finally faced the trainees who were sitting at the tables and chairs provided for them.

Teddy and Jilly made eye contact with each other, and then Jilly launched straight into a pre-written lecture about interrogation techniques. Every time she purposely paused Teddy would take up the lecture and add in his part of the lesson they had written together the week before. They lectured without pause for a full hour before Jilly stopped and asked their trainees if they had any questions.

The trainees looked at each other before one man raised his hand awkwardly and asked for clarification on something Jilly had said ten minutes before. Jilly repeated it with a different example that made it easier for the man to understand, and then they again asked if there were any other questions. When nobody else replied, Teddy asked the group why they didn't ask him and Jilly who they were.

The trainees shared a startled look and then a woman spoke up and said that they all knew who Teddy and Jilly were because their other supervising trainers had explained that aurors Donaldson and Lupin would be taking over them. Jilly nodded and then asked the group how they knew that they were actually the aurors in question. That question made the trainees go silent, and Teddy pointed out that they had sat there in silence for almost two hours listening to two people lecture them without even asking to see credentials or proof of identity.

Once the trainees seemed shamed enough, Jilly started in on their second lesson of the day: in their line of work they needed to be suspicious about everything, and to never take anything at face value. When she was finished Teddy asked them if they understood what they were saying. All of the trainees muttered out a 'yes' and then Teddy went on to explain more rules about what he and Jilly expected of them, especially promptness and punctuality. Jilly asked once more if they had any questions about anything they had discussed, and they all shook their heads. She and Teddy shared another look and Teddy sighed, pinched the bridge of his nose, and then announced that they should all have at least one question because none of them had actually asked to see Teddy and Jilly's credentials even after they previously berated them over it. None of the trainees made eye contact with them at that point, but one young man in the front did raise his hand and in a small voice asked to see both the aurors badges. Jilly and Teddy shared a glance that said that they wished that he had been more confident and assertive in his tone, but they pulled their badges out for the trainee to see because he was the only one who finally did what they told him to do.

"Oh yes," Jilly told the other two aurors, "We were very clear at the end of the day that punctuality is of the upmost importance."

Kurt and Hayden were still confused, "Then why are you guys here and not in the classroom? You're already a half hour late."

"It's alright, I asked Auror Donne to peek in unnoticed every few minutes to make sure that it doesn't turn into _Lord of the Flies_ without our presence there," Teddy explained as he tapped a finger on his mug of tea.

Kurt narrowed his eyes at Teddy, "What about flies?"

"It's from a muggle novel about pre-teen boys who get stranded on an island and start to kill each other," Teddy explained.

"You two still haven't explained why you're being hypocritical to your trainees today," Hayden reminded them.

Jilly smirked, "Just keeping them on their toes. One of the problems their other supervising aurors told us they have is that since they're getting to the end of their first year of training they're becoming dangerously complacent. They think they know what to expect, and that makes them more likely to coast-"

"And any type of coasting can be dangerous in our occupation," Teddy finished for her.

Kurt and Hayden nodded in agreement, "So how long are you going to let them stew?"

"Just a little while longer," Jilly replied after glancing at the clock.

"Just enough time to help us with some paperwork then," Hayden announced as he tossed two files onto Teddy's desk.

Kurt more kindly asked Jilly if she would help him with the notes on one of the last cases they'd closed, and about an hour went by before Teddy and Jilly decided to take pity on their trainees.

Auror Donne was standing outside of the trainees' classroom when Teddy and Jilly got to the closed conference room door. Teddy shook Auror Donne's hand and thanked him for looking in on the trainees for them, and Donne reported that nothing earth-shattering had happened but that they were starting to get antsy and that he'd heard a few raised voices coming from the room.

The minute they opened the door, the trainees' inside the room went silent as Teddy and Jilly entered the room, almost a whole two hours later.

"Morning everyone, today's lesson is going to be on domestic investigation protocol," Teddy announced as he and Jilly walked to the front of the room.

"Now we know that you've already covered most of this before, but we thought we'd do a refresher so that way we know where everybody is at-" Jilly stopped speaking when she saw an auror in the middle of the room raise his hand, "Yes?"

The trainee smirked at her, "I need to see your identification Miss."

"Excuse me?" Jilly retorted as she put her hands on her hips.

"Your identification, to prove that you _are_ Auror Donaldson."

Jilly stepped towards the trainee and her face went dark, "Are you trying to be funny Auror-in-training Meyers? You're asking _me _for my credentials? _I_'ve been a fully certified auror for five years and I've been instrumental in closing over fifty cases. You've barely made it through a year of first year training –nothing more than busy work– and you're trying to tell _me_ what to do?"

"Uh-"

"You want to see my credentials," Jilly repeated as she moved to stand over top of the auror-in-training who was still sitting in his chair, "Would you also like to see my completed case reports and references from all of the aurors I've worked with? How about the test scores from my years of training? Would you like to compare skills?"

The trainee auror swallowed audibly, "No I–I was just doing what you asked us to do yesterday-"

"Oh, so now you're trying to be smart? Do you think being witty and trying to be funny is going to earn you any points here?" Jilly continued to badger the trainee.

The trainee started to shake his head in the negative.

"So do you still want to see my credentials?" Jilly asked, a cold fury leaking into her tone that even made the hairs on the back of Teddy's neck stand on end.

"No," The trainee replied quietly.

Jilly turned on her heel and walked back to Teddy, with her back to the trainees she dropped her ferocious expression and rolled her eyes for only Teddy to see. He nodded his head slightly at her and then cleared his throat to make sure that he had all of the trainees' attention.

"Trainee Meyers, why did you withdraw your request to see Auror Donaldson's credentials?"

From the trainee's expression it was obvious that he had yet to recover from Jilly's verbal assault before Teddy decided to single him out again.

"Because she . . . because she was mad that I questioned her?"

"Is that a statement or a question?" Teddy asked him in an even tone of voice.

"Uh . . ."

"Trainee Meyers," Teddy interrupted him, "You were exactly right to question Auror Donaldson."

Trainee Meyers's expression turned to confusion since Jilly had acted like she was _very_ angry with him for doing so.

"You were wrong however, to give up so easily in asking for her credentials once you met with resistance. As an auror you will work with many different aurors as well as representatives from other departments such as Magical Law Enforcement. Our first instinct should be to try to get along with everybody we have to work with, but even if that doesn't work we need to be able to handle anything that comes our way. Including childish jurisdiction contests that often get people fired-up over who gets the most control of the investigation," Teddy directed his words not just at trainee Meyers but also the rest of the trainees, "In your career you will have to deal with at least a dozen people who will get up in your face and try to intimidate you for whatever reason. You can't let them do that or you will be undermining yourself and your own abilities in their eyes."

Jilly pulled the badge off her robes, called trainee Meyers's name, and then tossed her badge at him, "Here you go."

Trainee Meyers barely glanced at it before tossing it back at Jilly. She sighed as she caught it and then tossed it to the trainee beside Meyers, "Read that for me Trainee Jones."

"It says . . . Auror Kurt Williamson," Trainee Jones read carefully off the front of the badge.

Jilly gestured for Trainee Jones to throw it back to her, "Why didn't you catch that Trainee Meyers?"

"I uh . . ."

"You just assumed when you looked at it that it said my name?" Jilly answered for him.

Trainee Meyers gulped, "Yes."

"Everyone needs to be careful when checking people's credentials as well," Jilly announced, directing her gaze away from Trainee Meyers as not to make him feel as though she was specifically picking on him.

"While most of them will be official, you do have those weird people out there who will try to impersonate other officials and you need to make sure that they don't convince you otherwise," Jilly finished.

Teddy folded his arms over his chest, "So, back to today's topic, a refresher on domestic investigation protocol."

* * *

**10:44 AM**

Xavier Wood glanced at the clock on the wall of the Puddlemere United's starting team's weight room and then slowly set down the weights he had been working with. He picked up his water bottle and tried to seem casual as he wandered over to where Nadia Cassano was doing stationary cardio.

Nadia had a pair of headphones in her ears and was going hard at her cardio with an intense look on her face. Even though his teammate was usually always intense when it came to work outs or practice, the way Nadia was gritting her teeth made Xavier think that she was more preoccupied with trying to stop something from coming up. She automatically started to slow down her stationary cardio workout and took off her headphones when she noticed Xavier's appearance by her side.

"What's up Wood?"

The words were spat out quickly, but whereas she would usually be short with him because he was interrupting her concentration on her workout, she looked like she was more worried about accidentally vomiting on him like she almost had earlier that morning when she apparated to the stadium complex just a few seconds after Xavier had.

"It's a quarter to eleven, don't you have to be somewhere soon?" Xavier reminded her as he nodded his head in the direction of the clock on the wall.

That day was the day that Nadia and Malcolm were scheduled to meet with the team's publicist to decide how they were going to go about announcing her pregnancy, and since their appointment was for eleven o'clock, Nadia had told Malcolm that she'd meet him at the front of the stadium complex at ten-to so that they could go to the publicists' office together.

Nadia slowed her pace even more as she also glanced at the clock. She sighed heavily and Xavier summoned a water bottle to him as she ended her stationary cardio, he handed it to her when she stepped down next to him. She thanked him with a quick nod of her head.

Instead of chugging down the water like he expected her to, she took slow small sips of water, which told Xavier that her stomach probably wasn't feeling the best.

Since it was almost time for the team to take a break for lunch, Xavier walked out of the weight room with Nadia a few minutes early and went with her to meet Malcolm. As they walked, Xavier asked Nadia how she was feeling.

"Surprisingly, I can handle cardio pretty well. The nausea disappeared when I started, and it came back when I stopped, but it was gone while I was actually working out," Nadia explained.

Xavier glanced at her worriedly, "Should you be working out in your _condition_?"

That day was the first day Nadia had been back at the stadium since she found out about her pregnancy. As far as her other teammates were aware she had been ill and recovering. That day was scheduled as a workout day, so she didn't have to worry about her teammates asking questions about why she wasn't allowed on the pitch with them.

Nadia rolled her eyes and snorted, "According to Healer Jarvis I can participate in my normal level of exercise. I'm also allowed to fly on a broomstick until I get to the point that my centre of gravity is thrown off from the added weight. The only real issue with my playing quidditch is the competitive nature-"

"And the bludgers," He reminded her.

She rolled her eyes again, "And the bludgers. So I can handle a bit of a workout."

Xavier shrugged his shoulders and left the topic there. He had no experience with pregnancy whatsoever. Even though he was seventeen when his mother was pregnant with Brogan, he was so busy with Puddlemere practice and avoiding her wild mood swings that he didn't really pay much attention to the whole dos and don'ts of physically gestating a human fetus.

Malcolm was on time for once, and when Nadia and Xavier got to the front of Puddlemere's training complex they found him standing in front of the security wizard's office. Nadia gestured for the security wizard on duty to allow Malcolm in, and he when he got into the complex he went straight to her to and anxiously asked her how she was feeling.

"Like I'm probably going to vomit in the next ten to fifteen minutes," Nadia informed him airily as Malcolm unintentionally rubbed not-so-gentle circles on her back.

Malcolm nodded his head hurriedly, "Same actually, I think I might have caught a bug."

"Or you're just nervous," Xavier suggested as he tried to keep a straight face.

Malcolm turned his anxious gaze to his cousin, "Yeah that could be it."

The three walked to the complex's lift, and Xavier wished them good luck before turning on his heel to head to the change room. Before he could get a few feet away Malcolm grabbed him by the arm and suddenly started begging his cousin to join him for their meeting with the publicists. Xavier reminded Malcolm that both Oliver and Katie had already agreed to sit in on their meeting and give them advice, but Malcolm in his harried and fretful state pleaded with Xavier to have him come as well even if just for moral support. Xavier glanced from Malcolm to Nadia, and Nadia rolled her eyes at her boyfriend's angst and then silently nodded to Xavier to let him know that she didn't care if he joined them.

Malcolm seemed a little calmer once Xavier agreed to go with them, but once they got off the lift and began to walk to the publicists office his face started to tinge green. He was silent as they met Katie and Oliver outside the office, and hesitant when the five of them finally entered the publicist's office.

After quick greetings, everyone took their seats and the team's main publicist went straight to business.

"So what can I do for you today Ms. Cassano?"

Nadia folded her hands in her lap, "I'm pregnant."

The publicist had an excellent poker-face, so if he was shocked by Nadia's announcement he didn't show it. Instead the man pulled out a fresh piece of parchment and picked up a quill.

"Have you received confirmation of your pregnancy from a healer?" Their publicist asked.

Nadia nodded her head, "Yes, do you need a written note or something from my obstetric healer?"

"No, we have our own protocol for this so a note isn't necessary as of yet," He explained, "I take it that you arranged this meeting as soon as you received confirmation of your pregnancy?"

"Yes, I'm just under six weeks. I had symptoms very early so it was caught quickly," Nadia enlightened.

The publicist wrote down what she said and then he made direct eye contact with Malcolm, "Am I right to assume that you are the father Mr. Wood?"

Malcolm nodded woodenly and his face tinged even more green.

The steady gaze from across the table shifted from Malcolm back to Nadia, and flickered down to her bare ring finger on her left hand.

"Am I also right to assume that a pregnancy announcement is the only thing that you are here to discuss?"

Nadia and Malcolm nodded at the same time, "Yes that is all we are here to discuss right now."

More notes were made, and the publicist made a _hmm_ing noise, "How long do you expect your absence from the team to be? The rules require at least eight more months and until the child is born."

"Yes, my healer has also explained to me that I probably won't be cleared to go back to training for at least six weeks after the baby's born, so I'm planning my absence to be no longer than nine and a half months," Nadia told him.

"And that is all the time that you would like to take off? Puddlemere will cover six months of parental leave at a percentage of your salary if you'd like to take more time," The publicist informed her.

She shook her head, "After being grounded for almost ten months I think I will be quite ready to get back to the team."

Beside Nadia, Katie nodded her head emphatically in understanding.

"Is there a certain way you would like to announce your pregnancy?" The publicist asked, now switching to the details.

Nadia and Malcolm turned to look at Katie and Oliver with bewildered expressions. The former asked, "Is there a specific way we should go about it?"

"Well, when I was first pregnant with Xavier, Oliver and I were doing an interview about our marriage after we got back from our honeymoon and I vomited all over the interviewer's white couch. After that there was so much gossip going around about my vomiting that we needed to either confirm or deny the rumours, so we had a big press conference for it and announced that we were expecting. When I found out I was pregnant with Cecilia it was at the end of the season so we had two months off before quidditch started back up again. I started showing really early with her so the media began speculating very quickly about whether or not I was pregnant again. We put out an announcement that I was going to be taking several months off from quidditch back when the season started, and people were able to put two and two together by then," Katie listed off.

"And of course Katie had stopped playing by the time Brogan came along," Oliver added.

Malcolm began tapping his fingers on the arm of his chair, "What are the options anyway?"

"Full press conference, a large photo shoot and photo spread as a pregnancy announcement, one picture and a written announcement, just a written announcement, or you could try Katie's approach and announce that Ms. Cassano's taking nine month's off from quidditch and see where that leads you," Their publicist described, his lips turning up into a bit of a smirk as he said the last option.

One of the options seized Nadia's attention immediately, "So we don't have to make a big thing out of it then? We can just put a small written statement in the papers and be done with it? Keep most of it private?"

"That is an option," The publicist agreed.

"However," Katie interrupted with an apologetic look on her face, "Sometimes giving the media and the public more can help you keep some of your privacy. I would suggest some sort of photo of you and Malcolm in the announcement because that will solidify the idea of you two as a partnership, that you're in this next stage of your lives together."

Oliver nodded his head, "In addition, the fact that Malcolm is my nephew isn't going to just slide by the media. They're going to expect us to comment on this new development, and if you keep the announcement to just the barest of details they're going to be suspicious about it."

"As much as I dislike the way this sounds Ms. Cassano," Their publicist spoke up, "Your baby isn't going to be just your child; it's also going to be a Wood. And as much as Mr. Xavier Wood's marriage in August will take some of the heat off of you-"

The publicist nodded in Xavier's direction and the sandy-haired keeper waved his hand in acknowledgement and mouthed 'You're welcome' to his cousin.

"I fear that there is plenty of time before that event occurs for people to get caught up in your pregnancy," The publicist continued.

Nadia exhaled heavily and then glowered at Malcolm, "Why did you have to be part of a quidditch dynasty?"

"It's not like I had a say in it!" Malcolm complained.

Nadia exhaled once more and pinched the bridge of her nose, "So how do you think we should handle the announcement?"

"At least one picture and a write up with enough content in it should be enough for the public, there will always be speculations and gossip, but something solid printed in a reputable publication should give the media enough information about it to leave you alone and give you a bit of privacy," The publicist suggested.

Malcolm grabbed Nadia's hand and gave it a squeeze, "Is there any publication you would suggest?"

"_Quidditch Weekly_ and _Witch Weekly_ will both write and publish respectable articles if we give them the option and the exclusive rights to it," Their publicist explained.

"I think I would prefer if we went with _Quidditch Weekly_. The announcement could be written from the approach that I will be taking a leave of absence from the team because I'm pregnant and not just an announcement that I _am_ pregnant. I feel like _Witch Weekly_ might focus more on the scandal of me being pregnant and not the main portion of my not being able to play," Nadia said.

Oliver nodded his head, "The announcement can also mention who will be filling in for Nadia during her absence, which will remind the readers that the announcement is strictly quidditch related."

Everyone in the room nodded, they all seemed to agree with the suggestion.

"I would also like to make a suggestion," Katie said as she held a finger up to get everyone's attention, "I think that you should write the announcement Malcolm."

Everyone in turned moved to stare at Malcolm, and he blinked in confusion at his aunt, "Wha–Why?"

"Because you're a writer," Xavier supplied in an obvious tone of voice.

"I write travel and exploration pieces, not pregnancy and job announcements," Malcolm reminded them even though they hadn't forgotten that.

Katie smiled softly at her nephew, "I think you would do a wonderful job of it Malcolm, and I think in the end you and Nadia would prefer to have your announcement be something that you wrote instead of a stranger."

Nadia squeezed Malcolm's hand and made eye contact with her boyfriend, "I _do_ like Katie's suggestion. Would you write up the announcement? Please?"

"Well I can't really say _no_ to you," Malcolm told her quietly, "I did knock you up after all."

Nadia smirked at him, "I wasn't going to bring _that_ up and use it as ammunition . . . but if you're still feeling guilty about it I'll take it."

"So the next step is to speak to the coaches and verify who will be playing Ms. Cassano's position while she's on pregnancy leave," The publicist said, looking mostly at Oliver and Katie.

Katie nodded, "We are the only ones at the moment who know about her pregnancy, but I did arrange a meeting with the other coaches after this appointment so that we could get on filling her position and getting an announcement ready."

"Are they on their way up right now then?" The publicist asked as he glanced down at his watch.

Katie nodded.

"Well you don't need me for this," Malcolm said as he began to push himself up from his chair.

Nadia reached out lightning quick and tightly grabbed his wrist, "Oh no you don't! This pregnancy isn't only my fault so I'm not going to take the heat on my own."

Malcolm opened his mouth to complain, but Nadia interrupted him by making sudden gaging noises. Beside Malcolm, Xavier quickly conjured up a small rubbish bin and he practically threw it at Nadia. She caught it easily just in time to vomit into it. Malcolm quickly began soothingly rubbing circles on her back as she retched the small amount of food she had forced herself to eat at breakfast.

When Nadia finished, Katie handed her a wet cloth that she had conjured up so that she could clean her face. Nadia placed the whole cloth on her face and groaned from underneath it.

"You might need to get a prescription for a potion for nausea," Katie informed Nadia.

"Ugh, don't remind me. Both Victoire and Ally told me that on Saturday," Nadia muttered from underneath the damp cloth.

Several minutes later Nadia pulled the cloth off her face just in time for two of Puddlemere United's head coaches to enter the room. Xavier unobtrusively slipped out of the room before the office door closed, and Malcolm felt decidedly petrified as the new arrivals eyed him as if he was the odd man out in the room. Which he was.

Before either of the other coaches could ask what was going on, Nadia turned towards them in her chair and clearly announced, "I'm pregnant."

The coach for the chasers that worked with Katie didn't seem too surprised at Nadia's admission, "So I take it you haven't actually been ill the past few days?"

"Well I have had morning sickness for literally every waking moment . . . but that doesn't actually count as an illness," Nadia said in a tone very close to griping.

Both coaches nodded, politely offered her their congratulations, and then they asked Nadia if she had the opportunity to see a healer yet. Nadia explained that she had, and that she had just discussed with the publicist about putting out an announcement.

"How far along are you?"

Nadia tapped a hand on her leg, "Almost six weeks."

Her coaches nodded and then asked her how long she expected to be on paternity leave so that they could decide how long they would need a new centre chaser to fill in for her.

"I'll be back on the pitch once a healer clears me after the birth, so about nine and a half months, but no more than ten."

The other two chasing coaches glanced in Katie and Oliver's direction, "I take it this information isn't new to you two?"

The married couple nodded their heads.

"So if you've got a public announcement covered, I assume all that's left to discuss is who will be taking over your position for the duration of the season and for the beginning of next season?"

Nadia frowned a little, "Well there's not much to discuss. Hawthorne's the reserve centre chaser so he'll fill in for me."

Katie and the two other chasing coaches shared a look before Katie turned to Nadia, "A few months ago Hawthorne came to us and told us that he was considering looking into offers to play starting chaser for other teams, specifically for the American league."

It wasn't unusual for reserve quidditch players to move around between teams and even between leagues. Reserve positions on quidditch teams were highly coveted out of Hogwarts (and upon graduation of other wizarding schools) but after a few years of training and practicing at the reserve level many players looked into switching to other teams if it gave them the chance to play on a starting team. It happened very often with Puddlemere and other teams that had a rather concrete starting team roster that didn't often change.

Since Puddlemere's reserve centre chaser did not have any indication that Nadia would become pregnant and that he would be required to play for the starting team, he had been speaking to other clubs about any openings they had on their starting teams.

"Well I'm sure he'll change his tune on that when he finds out I'll be gone for almost a year," Nadia said.

Another coach replied, "Hawthorne informed us two weeks ago that he received a serious offer from a club in the American league and that he would like us to release him from his contract. The paperwork has already been started, and even if this new development might change Hawthorne's mind I think that he is too far into this process to turn back without ramifications."

Malcolm looked a little confused at this reply, but Nadia understood and unintentionally summarized it for him, "So Hawthorne's moving to a different club and I have to stop playing immediately."

"Yes," The other coach replied.

"So where does that leave us? Have Potter or Eason cover for me until the team can trade for a centre chaser of starting caliber?" Nadia enquired.

Katie pursed her lips, "I think we're all aware that finding a new chaser, no matter how good they may be, and training them to work with the rest of our team as well as teaching them our plays will take quite a while. We need a fantastic chaser to replace Nadia, but someone who won't feel pushed aside later when Nadia comes back from her leave."

"You might have a difficult time finding someone good enough to cover Nadia who will be willing to take the temporary contract," Oliver added somewhat unhelpfully.

One coach nodded his head, "And once we get this figured out it'll pretty much be time for Knopp to retire."

John Knopp was the starting right-wing chaser for Puddlemere United, and as he was presently the eldest player on the team and in his mid-to-late thirties, he had discussed with his coaches about ending his career in a season or two so that he could retire.

"Well that won't be too much of a problem, James'll more than likely be ready to step up to the pitch by the time Knopp retires," Katie told the chasing coach conversationally.

He nodded and then sighed, "If only Potter could play centre chaser too."

Katie's gaze snapped to the coach that spoke and her eyes flickered with something, "Why can't he?"

"Pardon?"

"Why can't James Potter play centre chaser while Nadia's on leave?" Katie questioned.

The coach glanced at her perplexedly, "Because Potter's our right-wing reserve chaser. He doesn't play the position of centre chaser."

"He did last week when Nadia was sick and Hawthorne had a concussion," Katie reminded them.

Oliver nodded, "He did a very good job at it."

"Even if we found a new starting chaser, Potter or Eason would have to play centre chaser until we found one. Which of them, based on their skills and what you've seen of them, would you have chosen in that situation to fill-in for Nadia?" Katie asked the other two coaches.

One coach replied quickly, "Between Eason and Potter, Potter is obviously the most skilled of our reserve chasers and the best at comprehending our plays, there's no question there."

"So if you would let James fill in the position of centre chaser until a replacement for Nadia could be found, why can't he fill in for the entirely of the next nine and a half months?" Katie asked.

"As skilled as Potter is, do you believe that he could cover for Nadia long term?" One of the coaches asked Katie seriously, "I'm sure that he'll give one-hundred percent during practice, but learning how to play centre chaser will require extra work and practice on his side."

The other coach chimed in, "He might still be young, but I think Potter could keep up. I think he could play reasonably well in Cassano's position for the rest of the season as the team's already in good standing. If he works extra hard during the off-season when everyone else takes a break, I think he may be able to come into the beginning of next season at the level we need him to be to get the season off to a good start before Cassano's due back."

Katie and one of the coaches seemed to be on board with the suggestion, and Nadia decided to put her two sickles worth in, "Moving from playing right-wing chaser to centre chaser will be difficult for Potter, but I agree that he can handle it if he works extremely hard at it. He's got a lot of natural talent and skill that's hard to find, and he already _knows_ all of our plays. I think it'll take less effort to build James up to a reasonably good centre chaser than it will to find another good centre chaser and teach them how to be a Puddlemere player, only to be relegated back to the reserve team once I came back off my leave."

The third coach took Nadia's words into consideration as he genuinely deliberated on all of the pros and cons of the situation. Knowing that James Potter, or their reserve left-wing chaser Eason, _would_ probably have to fill in for Nadia Cassano for the next several months until the end of the season was important to remember. To him giving Potter the chance to show his stuff for the next few months until the season finished and going from there was probably the best course they could follow at that point anyway.

"I guess we should go speak to Coach Bissenette then and inform him that we would like to promote Potter to the starting team until further notice," The third coach announced.

It only took about fifteen minutes to collect not just the second-string team, but also the starting team members and all of their respective coaches and trainers. They all met on Puddlemere's quidditch pitch, and after Nadia came back from escorting Malcolm out of the stadium she slipped in between some of her teammates so that she was standing closest to Xavier.

Her team's keeper raised an eyebrow in question at her and then gestured with his head towards where the head coach for the starting team's chasers was whispering in quiet tones to the reserve team's Coach Bissenette. When the chasing coach finished, Bissenette frowned at him, but he turned and cleared his throat to get the attention of all of the players.

"Thank you everyone for coming back from our nutritional break early-"

Clark Westin interrupted him with a garbled shout of 'no problem-o' which was rather distorted as his mouth was actually full of a peanut butter dipped banana he was munching on.

The chasing coach ignored the first-string beater and continued, "We have a few things to discuss as a collective Puddlemere United unit, so first things first, your teammate Nadia Cassano has an announcement for all of you."

Nadia sighed but held her head high as she took a few steps forward and turned to face her teammates and the second-string team. Xavier sent her an encouraging smile from where he stood with a loudly chewing Clark Westin standing to his right.

"So," Nadia began as she took a deep breath, "I'm pregnant. Five weeks along. I'll be on leave from playing quidditch for the next nine and a half months."

She spoke in simple and informative sentences, which she had decided on utilizing earlier when she realized that her coaches would force her to announce to her pregnancy to everyone else.

All of the players, expect for Xavier of course, looked shocked at her announcement. Clark and Mark both seemed as though their eyes were going to pop out of their faces, but Mark recovered swiftly and quickly offered Nadia a sincere congratulations. Clark on the other hand took longer to verbally respond, and when he did he prefaced it with a low whistle.

"Damn, I guess Woods do procreate more than Blibbering Humdingers."

Both Xavier and Mark cuffed Clark on the back of the head –from opposite sides– the second the words were out of his mouth. Nadia glared at Clark and asked her coach if she was finished. Upon hearing the affirmative she stepped away from the coaches to join her teammates, and stalked towards Clark who resignedly stayed put so that she could punch him _very _hard on the shoulder in retaliation for his words. Despite the fact that he was definitely going to have a bruise that the team's mediwitch Claudia and mediwizard Steven would later go on to refuse to heal out of protest, Clark didn't regret his words one bit.

"And for our second announcement, we would like to offer Everard Hawthorne the floor," The coach continued.

The second-string centre chaser, who still looked shocked at Nadia's announcement and everything it entailed, stepped up to the space his teammate had vacated and faced both squads.

"I've recently completed the paperwork for Puddlemere to release me from my contract so I can accept an offer to play for a squad in the American league. The deal should be finalized in a few days," Hawthorne announced to everyone.

While Hawthorne's declaration wasn't as shocking as Nadia's, it was more confusing as everybody from both squads could do the maths and came to the conclusion that both the starting centre chaser and the reserve centre chaser were either officially on leave or leaving the team.

It fell to Xavier –who knew that Nadia would be unable to play but who had always assumed that Hawthorne would just move up to take her place– to ask the question that was on everyone's minds.

"Uh," Xavier went so far as to raise his hand before speaking, "So who's going to play starting centre chaser during our game on Friday? Nadia's not allowed to play anymore, and Hawthorne can't play if he's being traded to another team. I don't think it will be possible to trade for anyone else within a week either."

The chasing coach nodded, "That's an excellent question Wood. We have decided that since he did such a wonderful job filling in for Cassano last week, that we will have Potter play centre chaser for our game this week, if you are amenable to putting in the extra time required for learning the intricacies of the position of course Potter."

James nodded at the sound of his name, "Of course Coach. I'll do whatever you require of me to be ready for this week's game."

The coach nodded, "Thank you Potter. However, since Wood is right about the unlikelihood of us finding someone to sign on as the team's centre chaser on such short notice, we would like you to fill that position for the rest of the season."

Despite the fact that James's mind was running at a speed of about a mile a minute, there was a lengthy pause before he was able to respond to the coach's statement. He had so many thoughts flying around his head and he was trying to calm himself down so that when he did speak he wouldn't sound like an overeager plonker.

"O–Of course Coach. Whatever you need."

James impressed himself with the calm and collected tone he utilized in his reply, and it seemed he wasn't the only one as Xavier nodded at him encouragingly while he spoke.

"Excellent, you'll be required to put in extra hours of practice with the coaches and trainers of course-"

James began nodding his head hurriedly, "I'll do whatever you require."

His words weren't just obsequious agreement for the sake of looking good to his coaches; he would do whatever it took to be ready for this new position they had decided to trust him with. Even though both Nadia and Hawthorne were down for the count, he knew that he wasn't exactly their last resort when it came to finding a player to fill in for Nadia. Sure he probably would have been handed the position for that week's game anyway (although they could have always gone with Eason instead) but the fact that they wanted _him_ to play out the rest of the season meant that they saw something in him that they thought they could work with. That they trusted him to put in the work to learn the new position and still be their best chance at success even though they had the budget in the franchise to pay for someone with _much _more experience playing the actual position.

He would do whatever it took to be ready. He'd take every extra practice with the chasing coaches and Katie, he'd bug Nadia about her specific playing techniques so that he could play more like her, and he'd even beg his mother to help him practice on their pitch at home after Puddlemere Practices were officially finished. He would do whatever he needed to do to live up to the expectations that his coaches had of him.

* * *

**5:04 PM**

Even though Jilly and Teddy had technically started their training session with the aurors-in-training late that morning, they still let their trainee aurors go at regular time since even that second day with them, that _had _been shortened, had been long enough. As the trainee aurors slowly got up from their tables, Jilly called a reminder to them.

"Don't forget that we're having a little fieldtrip tomorrow. You're all to meet us at that address we handed out yesterday by eight-thirty _sharp_."

Most of the trainee aurors nodded their heads in acknowledgement of her words, and a handful of them patted their pockets and searched through their notebooks to double check that they still had the address written down to the meeting place Teddy and Jilly had told them the day before when they first explained to them about the outing.

There was only one auror-in-training who seemed to have a specific question about their fieldtrip for the next day, and he was a slight young man with a very unassuming presence. When he came to a stop in front of Jilly and Teddy, after all of the other trainees left the room, the latter tried his best to remember the trainee auror's name but for the life of him he couldn't remember. It wasn't too surprising though, Teddy had only had a few days to prepare and become familiar with the aurors in the training class after being so suddenly placed on desk duty (and only then because Harry and Ron were _scared_ of their twenty-three-year-old niece).

"Auror Lupin, Auror Donaldson, I was wondering if I could have a moment of your time?" The trainee asked them a little hesitantly but a bit more firmly near the end of his sentence. He must have felt more confident as he spoke.

"Go ahead," Jilly replied to the trainee courteously.

The fact that Jilly didn't respond to the trainee with his name told Teddy that she couldn't remember who he was either.

"Well," The trainee began, a bit of hesitancy still in his voice, "I looked into the address you gave us yesterday and found that it's a building in the middle of muggle London."

Teddy and Jilly nodded their heads.

"So I went there last night under a disillusionment charm to see what kind of clothing I would need to wear for tomorrow and to see whether it would be best to get there via muggle or magical travel-"

Teddy held in a grin. The trainee seemed to be the only one who had completed prior scouting for the fieldtrip. Beside Teddy, Jilly sent him a sideways look agreeing with him that she was impressed that he had successfully jumped over the first hidden hurdle of the training assignment.

"And while I was there I observed the building for a little while. As I watched it, I found some aspects of it a little odd so when I got home I looked up the businesses that were in the building. There was only one, but when I tried to dig deeper I couldn't find any more information. Some things still didn't make sense so I dug into a textbook that we used a few months ago in our Communication with Muggles section and I found the address listed in an appendix. The appendix listed the address as a known muggle MI6 building and that there were a handful of witches and wizards placed in that building as a part of the Wizard-Muggle Intelligence Exchange Act of 1999," The trainee explained.

Teddy and Jilly shared another look, and even though they were both rather impressed with how their trainee had sussed out the history of the address they hid their approval in emotionless expressions as the auror trainee continued to speak.

"And since you gave us this address it's obvious that you already know this. So you also know that when my fellow trainees try to gain access to the building that they will be dealing with the full force of the muggle secret intelligence community. They will either: A) be denied access to the building and fail the exercise; B) become arrested as they try to talk their way into the building, after which they will have to talk their way out of a holding cell; or C) they will use magic on the muggles to gain entrance and then be breaking Ministry laws."

Teddy let his grin leak through his expression; it seemed he had passed the exercise at the second hurdle.

"You are correct, those have historically been the outcomes of this training exercise," Jilly told the trainee; confirming for him that his hard work had not fallen upon deaf ears.

The training exercise that Jilly and Teddy had set up was an old exercise, but a good one. It was one of Harry and Ron's favourite exercises to put trainee aurors through, most likely because it was one that Ron had come up with (with Hermione's help of course) to further teach the trainee aurors how to interact with muggle law enforcement and intelligence agencies.

It was a rather simple exercise to set up from Jilly and Teddy's end. It mostly required them giving the address to a secret muggle law enforcement or intelligence building to the trainees (they had chosen the undercover MI6 building that year) and contacting one of the agents form the wizarding world stationed in the building to let them know that the exercise would take place. The rest was up to the trainee aurors. Usually the trainees would try to gain access to the building and try many different methods to get into the building. A good number of them would most likely be detained as the trainee auror in front of them had supposed, and that is when their contact in the building would step in –after a couple hours or two– and get them off the hook as they were at least preauthorized to use magic within the building and in front of those muggles.

In the end the trainee aurors would learn a lot –usually through failure– about how to interact with muggle law enforcement; it was the main theme of the exercise. The other important lessons the trainees were expected to learn were how to act calmly and collectedly when a mission suddenly goes sideways, how and when to use magic appropriately in situations concerning muggles, and how to properly _prepare_ for missions.

The young auror trainee in front of them had completed the exercise via what it was known in the department as the _Ravenclaw route_. Not many aurors took the Ravenclaw route (not named because of which house each auror had been sorted into, but because of the skills utilized to complete the exercise) and in the years that the exercise had been used –not every year or the trainees would come to expect it– no more than three trainees in each class took that route, although there were also many years where none of the trainees discovered it.

The Ravenclaw route was when a trainee properly looked into and prepared for the exercise to the extent that they were able to figure out the point of the exercise before it took place.

"And since you have correctly identified the hidden elements of this exercise," Teddy told the trainee with a slight smile, "Or as we like to call it, you took the Ravenclaw route, you have successfully completed this exercise."

The trainee frowned a little in confusion, "Pardon?"

"You don't need to join your other trainees tomorrow for the fieldtrip, since you took the time to scout out the location ahead of time and have discovered the purpose of the exercise. You don't need to participate anymore," Teddy explained.

The trainee still didn't look convinced, "But isn't the point of this exercise to actually interact with muggle law enforcement and learn how to work with them, especially during surprise situations?"

"That is the main point," Teddy allowed, "But this exercise, like many things in life, is multifaceted. While it is important for you to learn how to interact with muggle law enforcement, learning how to properly prepare for a mission and how to _avoid _getting caught interfering with muggle law enforcement is also very important, and a valid strategy. If you prepare well enough, you don't need to worry about getting tripped up by something unseen because you will have already anticipated everything."

"Don't worry though, you will have many more opportunities to interact with muggle law enforcement before you officially graduate after your second year of training," Jilly added helpfully.

It seemed like the auror-in-training finally accepted that they weren't just letting him out of the exercise just because he'd figured it out and knew what to expect, but that they honestly were impressed that he had figured it out and that it was a valid strategy to complete the exercise before it even started.

"Thank you, but could I still participate in the exercise tomorrow?"

Teddy and Jilly shared a surprised look and the latter replied, "Tomorrow almost all of your fellow trainees will fail this exercise. It's not exactly designed to be completed successfully unless you discover the secret of the exercise ahead of time like you have. It's extremely rare for any auror trainee to make it into the muggle law enforcement building without casting spells within sight of a muggle or on a muggle without prior authorization."

"I understand, but I'd still like to try? May I? I promise not to tell the other trainees what I've learned," The auror trainee asked them respectfully.

Jilly and Teddy shared another look, and while neither of them knew why the trainee would want to take part in an exercise he had already successfully completed only to most likely fail it on the second try because it was supposed to be impossible, they both immediately respected his drive to try.

"Of course you may try to complete the exercise tomorrow with your fellow trainees. Please use all of the information you have learned and we wish you the best of luck," Jilly told the younger auror with a polite smile.

Teddy was excited to see how the trainee would do on the exercise the next day. After the conversation they had just had, Teddy felt that the slight man in front of them was one that they should definitely keep an eye on, and to do that he would need to know his name.

"Hopefully we will see you tomorrow then Trainee-" Teddy paused specifically for the trainee to fill in the blank.

Instead of replying with his name right away, the trainee sighed softly and blushed a little before he responded.

"O'Toole. I'm Trainee O'Toole."

"Are you-" Before Jilly could finished the question, Trainee O'Toole answered swiftly, already knowing what she was going to ask.

"Yes," There was a bit of a pause while Trainee O'Toole looked down at his feet, "Uh, I understand that you're familiar with my older brother."

Jilly bit her lip to stop her expression from saying exactly what she thought of the O'Toole she knew, who she thought was the _only_ O'Toole, and allowed Teddy to be the one to answer the question.

"Ah . . . yes, we've worked with your brother before . . ." Was Teddy response.

As he said the words memories of all of the times he interacted with O'Toole over the past two years drifted through his mind. He still wasn't sure how O'Toole had completed his second year of training and graduated to become an actual qualified auror last summer.

The younger and not yet fully qualified as an auror O'Toole fidgeted with his hands but made eye contact with Teddy, "Is it too much to ask that you don't judge me based on your past interactions with my brother?"

"No, it's not too much to ask," Teddy told O'Toole softly. If there was anyone who knew about being treated differently because of your last name and who you were related to, it was Theodore Remus Lupin.

Trainee O'Toole smiled, "Thank you." He left the room soon after that and Jilly let out a long sigh.

"Poor guy's gonna have a rough time stepping out of his brother's shadow."

Teddy nodded, "Yeah, but he's onto a good start. It's been almost a decade since the last time this exercise was used in training, so he couldn't have had any idea what it was. He did all of the preparation and studying on his own."

"I can't wait to see what he does tomorrow when he gets to the building, he'll be the most prepared trainee that's done this exercise in forever," Jilly told him conversationally as they left the conference room.

"Yeah, tomorrow should be interesting at least," Teddy replied.

* * *

**A/N:** I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter! I know we didn't move along too far but as always there's some important information in it. Please let me know what you thought about this chapter, and let me know if you're all still here with me.

**Next Update:** I'm not sure exactly when, but it won't be longer than a month :)

**Next Chapter:** We get to see the kiddos at Hogwarts as well as Victoire being her normal interfering self.

Thanks again to everyone who had been reading, following, favouriting, and especially reviewing! All of your feedback and comments really help me get into the writing groove and motivate me to carve out time to write this story.

_BIG thank yous as always to:_

**Lostinwords23, zalavi0309, RebekahGrace, Guest (1), Elisa, no cure for crazy, audrey3horses, zvc56, Saagarika, Break This Spell626, Guest (2), Guest (3), Guest (4), NicoleTheSmith, rosesnlilies, bookstar97, Strangerdangerbaby, **and** Jilly71102**.

**Lostinwords23**: We will learn more about James's incident later, but it I will tell you that it has to do with a lot of events culminating into one large incident.

**zalavi0309**: Teddy knows a lot about James because James feel comfortable confiding in him, which is adorable. I'm glad that you feel that Vic and Teddy's dynamic is consistent; I've tried to show that they're both grown up individually and together in their relationship while also trying to keep their dynamic what it was because it believe it's what makes them fit so well together. I've been having a surprising amount of fun writing and planning for Teddy and Jilly to train the trainees.

**RebekahGrace**: As if James would be able to just be straightforward enough to simply ask Selene out on a date. That'd be no fun ;)

**Elisa**: Thank you for the wonderful review. Dom's a firecracker but she does appreciate social justice every once and awhile, even a metaphorical one that comes at the expense of her sister's sanity.

**no cure for crazy**: I appreciate the review! Also, Vic' family aren't going to appreciate her stipulations when its a few days to her wedding and she's obsessively nagging them all about it.

**Saagarika**: I'm glad that you like the flow of the story, I know it's taking longer than normal but it's either a long time between chapters or I won't be able to finish the story at all.

**Guest (3)**: We won't see too much of Lily in this story, but that doesn't mean that eventually she won't get a storyline.

**NicoleTheSmith**: I think you know me well enough by now to know that I won't be giving you such concrete answers this early on.

**I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter,**

**Please let me know what you thought of it in a review or PM,**

**If you have any questions or concerns leave me a comment as well,**

**Until next time, DFTBA!**


	9. It Could Have Gone Worse

**A/N:** Hello everyone, here's the next update. We've gone back to Hogwarts for this one, so it'll be our first time seeing a few of these characters in this new story.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own _Harry Potter_.

**Warning:** There is some sexual content/terminology used in this chapter, which will make a lot more sense a few paragraphs in, but I don't think it warrants more than the 'T' rating it has.

* * *

**It Could Have Gone Worse**

**Wednesday, April 24th 2024**

**8:04 AM**

Rose Weasley stirred her spoon around her bowl of apple-cinnamon oatmeal idly as she flipped through the _Daily Prophet_ that had been dropped off by an owl ten minutes before. She had eaten about half of the bowl before the paper in her hands captured the majority of her attention. Her eyes followed the words written on a few of the articles, but the news that morning was relatively bland and mundane and no one article seemed to be able to capture her attention for long. She kept flipping through the paper hoping that she'd eventually stumble upon an article that was interesting enough to capture her fancy in full and keep certain parts of her mind from wandering towards thoughts she'd rather not dwell on before the day even had the chance to fully begin.

"Anything interesting in the news?" Her cousin Albus Potter questioned from his spot across the Gryffindor table from her.

Rose pursed her lips, and she didn't remove her eyes from the paper as she replied, "No, nothing of great importance."

Al snorted at his favourite cousin's predictably swotty response. He was pretty sure that the only reason why Rose had been sorted into Gryffindor and not Ravenclaw was because by that point the Sorting Hat had gotten tired of all of the Weasleys and was just automatically sorting them into Gryffindor by default so that it didn't have to delve too far into their minds to uncover which of them had crippling angst and anxiety about living up to their parents' reputations, and which ones just had full-blown potentially-debilitating complexes about it.

The witch with the slightly frizzy hair went back to looking at her newspaper and slowly used her spoon to make figure eights in her bowl of viscous breakfast goop. She had flipped through several more benign newsprint pages before a familiar voice spoke from just behind her.

"Hey."

The word was punctuated with a gentle kiss to Rose's temple as a tall blonde boy with broad shoulders smoothly sat down next to her on the bench. She glanced up at him and smiled brightly, taking in how the green trim of his robes brought out the blue shade in his grey-blue eyes.

"Hey," Rose repeated softly before leaning towards him and pressing a kiss to his lips.

Scorpius Malfoy grinned into his girlfriend's kiss but when she pressed her mouth harder against his, he kissed her back with the same amount of force –that admittedly was probably not exactly appropriate for breakfast on a Wednesday morning– and slipped one of his hands around her head to keep her mouth fixed to his. At some point during their lip lock, either just before or just after he had captured her bottom lip in between his and made her moan quietly, her hands slid up to his chest and she clenched her hands in his robes to pull him as close to her as their seating arrangement would allow.

"Hey!"

Rose and Scorpius broke apart and turned their attention toward the Gryffindor across the table from them who had made the loud exclamation. Rose glanced questioningly at her dark hair cousin, while Scorpius glared at his best mate with a look that clearly said that he was irritated that he'd interrupted the rather solid snog session he had going on with his girlfriend.

"I thought you said that there was nothing important in the paper?" Al continued, specifically addressing Rose this time as he gestured to the _Daily Prophet_ he must have swiped from her while she was giving Scorpius his good morning snog.

His cousin rolled her brown eyes at him, "There isn't."

Al's eyes widened and he scoffed, "It says right here in the sports section that Hawthorne is being traded to a franchise in the American league."

Rose glanced from the earnestly serious look on Al's face, to the unimpressed expression on Scorpius's, and then back to her cousin, "Who's Hawthorne?"

"He's Puddlemere United's reserve centre-chaser," Al explained as if it was obvious.

Rose glanced back at Scorpius, and even though he seemed like he understood who Hawthorne was, he didn't seem too concerned about Al's words. In fact, Scorpius's hands were slowly moving back to Rose's body as he leisurely slipped one arm around her waist while the other wound back into her hair and began playing with the soft strands.

"And?"

"And he's being traded. So Puddlemere doesn't have a reserve centre-chaser anymore," Al repeated as if the reiteration of the statement would make Rose care; or at least understand it better.

Scorpius sighed as he leaned his forehead against Rose's. He kept eye contact with her, rather intensely, but replied to Al in a surprisingly blasé tone, "Why does it matter? They've still got Cassano as their starting chaser and she's not going anywhere anytime soon. They'll find a new reserve chaser soon enough."

With that said Scorpius considered the conversation finished and he used his grip on Rose's hair to manoeuver her lips the short distance back to his. He started their kiss right back where it had left off when his best mate had so rudely interrupted them to chat about quidditch.

Kissing Scorpius always made Rose feel like they were in a little world that was all their own. One where all that mattered was the heat she felt absolutely _everywhere_ when he touched her and the electricity that flowed through them wherever their bodies touched. Which, she mused, just had to be contributing to the fact that their hearts always seemed to beat at the same pace, almost as if their hearts were attached to each other's and dependant on each other-

"Godric and I thought we'd no longer have to deal with disgusting public displays of affection like this at breakfast after Cecilia and Louis graduated," Lily Potter exclaimed exasperatedly as she and Hugo Weasley sat themselves down at the Gryffindor table beside Al.

Rose unhappily pulled away from Scorpius's face for the second _bloody_ time that morning, so that she could glare at her youngest cousin. She kept her derisive scowl just for the female redhead as she knew that her younger brother Hugo was tactful enough to leave her and Scorpius the _heck_ alone whenever they were trying to snog each other.

"If you don't like what you see you can always go eat somewhere _else_ Lily," Rose grimaced at the youngest Potter.

Scorpius held in his smirk and stayed silent. He knew better than to try to get in the middle of an argument (or a debate, dispute, spat or quarrel) between any two members of the Weasley-Potter family; especially if one of those members was his beautiful, stubborn girlfriend.

Most people thought that since Rose Weasley was one of the more quiet and introspective members of the Weasley clan that she wasn't one for arguments or even capable of throwing out a good comeback when she got teased. Scorpius knew better though. _He_ knew that Rose had it in her to be more than a little bit of a spitfire. Just because she was generally polite and slightly shy around people she didn't know too well didn't mean that she would allow herself to be the butt of all of her cousins and sibling's jokes and teasing.

Even though Lily was barely taking the piss with Rose (or at least it was relatively tame compared to the level of loving torment Scorpius knew Lily was capable of) Scorpius enjoyed it when Rose fired back and gave as good as she got. Her irises would turn into chocolate coloured flames and an intense and impassioned expression would slip onto her face, and whenever that happened sometimes his breath would just disappear from his lungs as he watched her. Avenging was a fantastic look on her, and even if it was only there for the most fleeting of seconds it was still enough to make Scorpius's blood heat up. While the two cousins had a glare-down, Scorpius's hand that was still around Rose's waist clenched tightly around the fabric of her school robes that covered her side.

"Trust me, I would if professor Linkwell let us eat during first period Transfiguration," Lily replied as she reached for a strip of bacon off of her older brother's breakfast plate, "If I could get away with that I'd sleep in until it was time to go to class and just eat in class while Linkwell lectures us about the importance of the three Gadhavi principles during reptile transfiguration."

Rose rolled her eyes at Lily; her irritation with her younger cousin abating quickly now that Lily was more concerned with stealing breakfast foods from Al, "There are four Gadhavi principles in concerns to reptile transfiguration."

"And I'd know that if was allowed to eat during class! It's much easier for me to focus on a full stomach," Lily explained as she went on to swipe a piece of buttered toast off of her brother's plate despite that fact that there was a plateful of toast four inches from her left arm.

Al sighed exasperatedly and pushed his plate, and what food was left on it, towards his sister, "'As long as you don't eat your weight in breakfast pastries I don't care what you do before nine am."

Lily scowled at her brother and then made a show of stretching her arm across his torso so that she could reach for a platter of banana muffins sitting directly in front of Hugo. Before her wandering fingers could grasp the edge of the plate though, Hugo pulled out his wand, gently tapped the tip of it to the top of one muffin, and made the entire plate disappear.

"Hey!" Lily exclaimed at her fellow fifth-year in annoyance.

Hugo ignored her outrage and pushed a bowl filled with fruit towards her, "_I'm_ the one that usually has to spend the entire day with you since we have the exact same class schedule and _I'd _rather not deal with you on a sugar high, or Merlin forbid when you crash."

Lily continued to glare at her redheaded cousin and housemate as she crossly reached for the bowl he pushed towards her and pilfered a shiny red apple.

When Scorpius was reasonably sure that the conversation had drifted away from him and Rose, he turned back to his girlfriend and pressed a sweet kiss to her lips. He pulled back before either of them were tempted to deepen it and pushed a strand of Rose's hair behind her ear as he asked her how she slept the night before.

Rose opened her mouth to reply, but her soft words were lost in the sudden and loud arrival of her dorm mate Alice Longbottom, and Alice's Hufflepuff boyfriend Kieran Chang. Alice slid onto the bench on Rose's other side and Kieran followed after he like he usually did.

"So who's excited for today's assembly?" Alice asked the group of Gryffindors and Scorpius with a faux enthusiastic expression and tone.

Rose, Scorpius, Al, and Hugo all groaned and avoided eye-contact with Alice while Lily shrugged unconcernedly and stated, "As bad as it will be, it _could_ always be worse."

"Worse than your eldest cousin coming to Hogwarts to give you and the entirety of the fifth, sixth, and seventh year girls a lecture on sexual education?" Rose asked Lily cynically.

Lily shrugged, "There are worse people –Hell there are worse cousins to give us a sex ed lecture."

Two years previously Rose and Lily's eldest cousin Victoire Weasley had completed a short internship in Hogwarts's hospital wing while she was in her last year of healing school. During her tenure at Hogwarts Victoire had convinced Headmistress McGonagall that a series of sexual education lectures separated by age and gender was increasingly necessary for the castle's students. Victoire prepared an entire syllabus of material to be used for each lecture series, and was quite prepared to follow through with presenting the information to the female students of Hogwarts (while one of the male professors would be roped into presenting the material to the male students) when she was suddenly needed as a replacement medi-witch on an undercover auror mission in Peru that was coincidentally being headed by one Ted Lupin.

To the relief of Rose, who was in her fifth year of Hogwarts when Victoire was supposed to present the sexual education lecture, a different professor had to cover for her instead. Headmistress McGonagall had decided that the sexual education lectures were something that should be continued each year, and she had also arranged for Victoire to present one the previous year when Rose was in her sixth year. Fortunately for Rose, two days before Victoire was supposed to present her sexual education lecture there was a level five medical emergency in Ireland that required St. Mungo's to send one of their Dark Arts Reversal resident healers there to help treat patients. Victoire was picked for the task and was gone for a week as she helped out there, and another professor had to fill in for her at Hogwarts once more.

Rose had luckily escaped from hearing her cousin lecture on sexual education twice, but –unless a convenient medical emergency concerning dark magic occurred in the next two hours– it seemed that that strand of luck wasn't going to hold out and Rose would have to endure listening to her eldest cousin give her and all of her classmates a lecture on sexual education.

Rose sighed as she accepted the inevitable and nodded at Lily, "I guess that's true."

"A sex ed lecture from Lucy, or even Dom would definitely be worse," Hugo agreed as his face went green just thinking about the concept.

Lily glanced between Hugo and Al, "You lot are lucky that you get to hear a dull lecture from a professor you're not related to instead of a predictably enthusiastic presentation from your own cousin."

"Well I for one am glad that it's Professor Cooke giving us our lecture and not Professor Longbottom," Kieran Chang chimed in as his face went white with the thought of his girlfriend's father giving him and all of the male Hogwarts students over the age of fifteen a sexual education lecture.

Beside him his girlfriend was devoid of all sympathy for that particular imagined plight. Alice snorted in amusement at Kieran, "Luckily for you Dad's not doing the lecture this year."

She gave her boyfriend a peck on the cheek and then stood up from the bench, "Now, you lot need to get to class and Al's going to help me with our Transfiguration essay."

Alice nodded her head at Al and then turned on her heel and walked away from the table. Al sighed heavily but got to his feet quickly so that he could follow after her because he _had_ promised to help her during their free period that morning while Kieran, Rose, and Scorpius all went to their Arithmancy class. Hugo then picked up two last pieces of toast from the table and used it to lure Lily away and towards their first class of the day.

Once the younger Gryffindors left, Rose grabbed Scorpius's hand and walked with him and Kieran out of the Great Hall and towards their Arithmancy class as the two boys discussed that upcoming Saturday's Slytherin-Hufflepuff house quidditch game. Rose and Scorpius took their regular seats next to each other in the front of the class, and after Kieran finished his conversation with Scorpius he moved a couple rows back to sit with a few of his friends from Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw. Once the last student entered the classroom and sat down at their desk (which happened to be a harried looking Norah Summers who threw a secretive glare at her friend Christen Lazar as she shuffled into a seat next to her) their Arithmancy professor started in on that day's lecture.

After the first twenty minutes of the lesson had passed their professor handed out their classroom assignment for that day and announced that they could work on it in pairs or small groups. As the students began to shuffle seats and desks, Scorpius calmly pulled his wand out of his robes and cast a spell that caused Rose's desk and chair to glide across the floor, covering the three feet of space that had separated their desks, and moving Rose with it.

Scorpius smirked at his girlfriend once she was at his side, "Be my partner?"

Rose leaned forward with the intention of pressing a kiss to his lips to indicate her acquiescence with his suggestion, but before her lips could meet his someone snuck up behind them and threw their hand out to come between the couple's mouths.

"Sorry to burst your bubble Romeo, but I'm going to pilfer your Juliet for this assignment," Norah Summers proclaimed to Scorpius as she slowly retracted her hand from in between the pair's faces.

Scorpius imperiously raised an eyebrow at the Gryffindor beater, "May I at least ask why you are stealing my girlfriend Summers?"

Norah hooked her arm through Rose's and pulled her out of her chair, "Because you and Rose are the two smartest people in this class and it's not fair for you to work on this assignment together. You need to share your smarts with your fellow classmates."

Rose could tell that Norah thought that her explanation was enough, and she dragged Rose away to the side of the classroom where Norah's friend Christen Lazar was sitting and waiting for them. As Rose sat down in a seat the other two girls had scrounged up for her, she glanced back at Scorpius and saw that he'd been roped into a group with one of his teammates from the Slytherin quidditch team along with a Ravenclaw he was friendly with.

"So Rose, got any tricks to make this assignment easier?" Christen asked the Gryffindor with a sweet smile.

Rose often helped Norah and Christen with their Arithmancy homework. It usually only took Norah a bit of practice to get the hang of whatever assignment they were working on, while it sometimes took Christen a little longer to walk through it. Rose pulled out one of their textbooks and flipped it to a page that she might need as a reference to help Christen, and then the three girls got to work. Rose and Norah worked through their equations at a steady pace, but Christen was starting to get a little anxious as she couldn't tell the difference between the latest two methods their professor had taught them.

"Perhaps we should take a step back and go back to the beginning of this question?" Rose asked Christen when she realized that the Hufflepuff had screwed up the answer to the question so badly that she couldn't exactly pinpoint where she first went wrong.

"Holy Helga I'm never going to figure this out," Christen complained as she threw her quill down on her desk.

Rose reached out to her and patted her hand supportively, "Now don't talk like that, this is a hard concept to grasp the first time around. Right Norah?"

Norah didn't immediately reply and Christen and Rose turned their gazes to the other Gryffindor girl to see what was occupying her attention. Rose raised an eyebrow questioningly at her quidditch teammate when she saw her, while Christen sighed heavily.

"Really Norah?"

Norah heard it that time when her friend said her name, and she broke the staring contest she was having with the Ravenclaw boy sitting next to Scorpius to glance back at her partners, "_Hmm?_"

"I thought whatever was going on between you and Dresdner was finished?" Christen asked Norah nosily.

Rose squinted a little and saw that the Ravenclaw that was sitting with Scorpius was Michael Dresdner.

"We are," Norah replied as she turned her gaze away from the Ravenclaw and focused on Christen and Rose, "Apparently he was getting tired of me playing hard to get."

"Well you _were_ stringing him along for like two months," Christen reminded her friend gently.

Norah snorted, "Two months of playing hard to get is _nothing_. I messed with Freddie for like two years and he never once gave up on me or left me alone."

"Yeah that's not exactly a ringing endorsement for Freddie. I mean I love my cousin, but sometimes I don't think he's quite alright in the head," Rose said with a roll of her brown eyes as she remembered the weird playing-hard-to-get-whatever-thing that had been going on between Freddie and Norah during the former's last two years at Hogwarts.

Christen snickered, "Did you not just hear what Norah said about how she appreciates Freddie's inability to accept the word 'no'? I'd say that Norah's not exactly all there either."

"I'll have you two know that that kind of single-minded determination is one of the sexiest traits a guy can have," Norah defended herself as she crossed her arms over her chest.

Rose and Christen shared a look as if to say 'is-she-really-serious' and then both girls burst into laughter.

Norah scowled further at her two friends, "Honestly! What's wrong with wanting unwavering and constant devotion from the person you think you might fancy?"

"Nothing-" Rose tried to say before Christen interrupted her, "It's just that most blokes like some sort of evidence that you actually like to at least be in their presence before they get to the point where a constant devotion to you can grow."

Norah honestly looked confused at her friend's advice, "Why?"

Rose and Christen shared another look that said that they were worried about Norah's sanity, or at the very least that she had questionable expectations when it came to romantic relationships, and Norah scoffed at their expressions.

"It doesn't matter anyway, there's less than two months until graduation so there's not like there's any time for me to start a new relationship when we'll be out of this castle soon anyway," Norah said in a voice very much like a sigh as she picked up her quill and went back to their assignment.

Rose pursed her lips but decided against continuing the topic. While she was friends with Norah –in fact, they two had gotten even closer when Rose started playing keeper for Gryffindor's house quidditch team the year before– they never really shared secrets or confidences about boys or their relationships. Rose had always stayed clear of the topic because of the aforementioned really odd relationship-but-not-a-relationship between her cousin Freddie and Norah, and because she was generally quiet when it came to talking about her relationship with Scorpius to other people.

The three girls went back to completing their assignments and the rest of the period went by rather quickly. When there were only a few minutes left of class their professor made an announcement.

"Make sure that those assignments are finished in time for our next class, and don't forget that after this class the boys are expected in the Great Hall for their assembly, while the girls are expected in the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom."

None of the seventh-year students looked particularly happy about the presentations they were about to see, so most of the class was relatively quiet as they gathered their things and left the classroom. Rose went back to her normal desk beside Scorpius so that she could grab the rest of her things that she'd left there when Norah had dragged her away from her desk earlier in the period.

Scorpius was already a step ahead of her; he had collected all of her things into her bag and had it in his hands ready to pass it off to her. When she walked up to him he handed the bag to her and leaned forward to give her a sweet kiss on the lips.

"See you at lunch?"

Rose nodded and gave her boyfriend one more kiss before he turned to walk out of the classroom just behind Kieran Chang and a few male Ravenclaws.

"C'mon girl," Norah's voice called out to Rose as she waited by the doorway of the mostly empty classroom, "Time to hear what kind of sex ed presentation your cousin has planned for us."

Rose groaned loudly and Norah took a few steps back into the classroom so that she could grab Rose by the arm and drag her towards the hallway that would take them to the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom.

"I don't want to go to this," Rose announced with a pout as Norah continued to pull her through the castle's hallways and around corners.

Norah rolled her eyes, "You of all people should know that it's a mandatory assembly Miss Head Girl."

"I still think I should be exempt from it," Rose complained as they jumped onto one of the moving staircases just as it was about to levitate up a floor.

"Because you shouldn't have to endure listening to your cousin give you a sex ed lecture in front of all of your friends?" Alice Longbottom asked as she suddenly popped out from around a corridor as she met them at the top of the staircase.

"No," Rose said as the trio turned down the hallway on their far right, "Well yes, but the real reason why I should be exempt from this is because I've already had to sit through more than one sexual education lecture from Victoire already."

Alice raised a dark eyebrow at Rose, "Really?"

"Yes. Admittedly it was a better talk than the one my mother gave me but there's still only so many times a girl should have to hear it," Rose explained.

"Well since you've had a preview of it, think this assembly's going to be any good?" Norah asked curiously.

Rose groaned, "I don't know. The one she gave me was one-on-one and . . . specific to what she thought I might need to hear."

The three girls had made it to the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom and followed a pair of sixth year girls into the room. When they entered the room Rose wasn't surprised to see that Professor Suggit had magically enlarged the room so that there was enough space for all of the female students in years five through seven. More than half of the students had already arrived so all of the desks in the very back of the room had already been commandeered. Thankfully it seemed that Lily had saved a few seats for her and Alice near the middle. Norah patted Rose on the arm in solidarity before skipping away to the right side of the room where Christen Lazar and another friend of Norah's had saved the Gryffindor beater a seat.

Once all of the empty desks were filled Rose clasped her hands together and tried to psych herself up for what she hoped _wouldn't_ become the most embarrassing moment of her Hogwarts years.

The classroom door opened a minute later and Victoire Weasley walked into the room with a thick file folder in her arms. She sashayed to the front of the room in a pair of nude coloured heels and placed her file down on the podium next to her. Victoire was wearing a pair of slim-fit ankle-length navy blue trousers with a pale blue silk blouse on top, and even though she wasn't wearing her healers' robes, Rose thought she looked rather professional.

Victoire took in the large group of completely silent teenagers and smiled encouragingly at them, "Good morning everyone, some of you are familiar with me, but for those who are not I'm Healer Weasley. I will be giving today's presentation on sexual intercourse and sexual education."

Rose already felt like hiding her face and pretending that she wasn't related to Victoire even though about ninety-nine percent of the students knew that she was, and they were only about thirty seconds in.

Thankfully, Victoire didn't stare specifically at her or Lily from her spot at the front of the classroom and Rose hoped that it would stay that way so that she couldn't feel even more singled out than she already did.

"So," Victoire said clapping her hands together as she stood in front of a blank chalkboard, "Before we jump right in I'm going to ask if any of you have any questions about why I'm here or my credentials."

A fifth-year girl in the front raised her hand immediately and Victoire called on her, "Is this your healing specialty?"

"Is gynecology my healing speciality?" Victoire repeated, "No, it's not. My specific healing specialty is Dark Arts Reversal but I can assure you that I am medically qualified for a presentation like this."

Victoire glanced around the room, "Any other questions before we begin?"

A seventh-year Slytherin girl raised her hand from the very back row.

Since Victoire had been Head Girl for Gryffindor in her seventh-year she did know the names of a few of the seventh-year students who would have been in their first year during her last, "Yes Miss Selwyn?"

"Yeah, why should we even listen to you?"

Rose sighed heavily and shared a sideways look with Alice that said 'this isn't good', while at the front Victoire tilted her head to the side as she gave Davinia Selwyn a considering look.

"Pardon me?"

At her desk Davinia Selwyn smirked maliciously, "Why should we sit here and listen to _you_ tell us that we shouldn't be having sex?"

"Oh Honey," Victoire said in an overly sweet tone of voice that Rose knew she utilized anytime she was about to be purposely patronizing, "I'm not here to tell any of you that you can't or shouldn't be having sexual intercourse with a consenting partner."

Her words made most of the students look at her funny. Before she said them, the half of the students that didn't look embarrassed seemed as if they were expecting to be bored to tears by her presentation. After she said them, she had the rather shocked attention of all of the students in the room.

The fifth-year girl from the front who had asked Victoire about her healing specialty seemed completely perplexed, "You're not?"

Victoire shook her head at the younger girl and then made direct eye contact with Davinia Selwyn again, "No. I'm not. At least a third of everyone in this room are legal adults, and even those who aren't are still old enough to make their own decisions about their bodies."

From beside Rose, Alice shrugged her shoulders at her dorm mate as if to say 'this could be going worse'.

"What _I am_ here to do is make sure that all of you have the information you need to be able to make smart and informed choices and decisions on what you decide to do, or what not to do, with your own bodies," Victoire continued, "Now I'm not going to start from the very beginning because I'm sure that you are all already aware how babies are made. So to begin I'm going to ask, does everyone know what informed consent is?"

"Of course. It's boring!" Davinia Selwyn called from the back, a wicked smirk on her face that said that she just liked to stir up trouble.

Victoire sent Davinia a look that seemed unreadable, but knowing her cousin as she did Rose could tell that Victoire was starting to get just a little irritated by the hostile interruptions.

"What exactly about consent do you find _boring_ Miss Selwyn?"

Davinia rolled her eyes exaggeratedly, "The fact that we're now expected to have complex discussions about where exactly the bloke you've been snogging can touch you each time he decides to move his hand. Really kills the mood when you have to stop snogging so you can verbally reassess your partner's intentions every two minutes."

"Well as tedious as the picture you have so kindly painted for us is Miss Selwyn," Victoire said as she put her hands on her hips and unintentionally started a stance that both Rose and Lily knew was her 'don't mess with me' stance, "I think most of you can agree that a few awkward conversations with your sexual partners about what level of physical interaction you feel comfortable with is better than being forced into a situation that you do not feel comfortable with or ready for-"

Davinia Selwyn didn't say anything aloud this time but she did exhale spitefully loudly and roll her eyes, so hard that Rose wouldn't have been surprised if the action gave her a headache.

Victoire narrowed her blue eyes at the seventh-year Slytherin as she continued in a hard tone of voice.

" . . . And that the alternative to a boring conversation about consent could be you being pushed up against a wall and forcibly touched by someone you thought you could trust. Someone who made you feel terrified and powerless in your own body. Someone who said that they cared about you but who, when you tried to ask them what in Hades they thought they were doing, told you that they thought that you had been giving them signals all night and that you needed to stop being a tease and just accept the fact that they were going to force themselves on you because they know that, despite _your_ words to the contrary, you apparently _want_ them to invade your bodily autonomy and touch you without your permission!"

Victoire's words, understandably, were very severe and slightly angry at the end of her speech-turned-rant and all of the students in the room were silent as they stared at her with expressions of varying apprehensiveness. A few students had emotions flash across their faces that told Victoire that some of them knew exactly what she was talking about, while others seemed to become more frightened as Victoire's words echoed in their heads.

Alice turned in her seat to glance at Rose with a worried expression and mouthed 'is she okay?'. Rose nodded her head but refrained from trying to whisper to Alice what would be a lengthy explanation about what happened to Victoire in her seventh-year with Christopher Mullin.

"Now," Victoire said in a quieter and more controlled voice after she allowed all of the students –and especially Davinia Selwyn– time to ruminate on her previous words, "While talking with your partner about your and their intentions to be physical before you get to that point in your relationship might be a little awkward or might _kill the mood_, it is still exponentially better to do so when you consider what the alternatives may be."

Victoire's gaze swept the majority of the students in the classroom and it ended on Davinia Selwyn. The younger woman had her lips pressed together in a firm line. While the Slytherin girl did seem as though she was displeased with Victoire taking her to task as she had, she didn't interrupt her again.

Rose felt her body relax a little as Victoire continued with her pre-planned lesson on the importance of informed_ enthusiastic_ consent without any more rude interruptions by Davinia Selwyn or anybody else. After encouraging the students to raise their hand at any time during her lecture if they had any constructive questions or concerns, Victoire's speech on consent changed into an informative lecture on sexually transmitted infections that sadly contained pictures that the healer had enlarged and magically affixed to the chalkboard so that every student in the room could easily see them.

When Victoire moved on to unwanted pregnancies –which she started talking about directly after she finished frightening half of the students with the scary realities of a _Chlamydia_ infection– Davinia Selwyn seemed to have recovered from Victoire's previous indirect putdown and interrupted Victoire's repeated clarification that not all contraceptives, magical or otherwise, are one-hundred-percent effective individually or on their own.

"If someone's stupid enough to get pregnant while they're still at Hogwarts they deserve whatever happens to them."

Victoire raised a blonde eyebrow at the seventh-year, "Miss Selwyn, unexpected pregnancies are called so because they are _unexpected_. They don't just happen because a couple is choosing to be irresponsible and chose not to use contraceptive protection, they can also occur when there is an unintentional failure or misunderstanding in regards to contraception. Pregnancy scares in general occur more often than unexpected pregnancies come to fruition. Changes in female hormones, diet, exercise, stress, and several other factors can cause a female to miss a menstrual cycle and think that they may be pregnant. Someone who has a pregnancy scare deserves non-judgemental support, not ridicule and vicious insults. It could happen to anyone."

Beside Rose, Lily slapped her hand over her mouth to hide a snigger and the youngest Potter muttered in a quiet tone to her cousin, "Vic _would _know."

"Her brain was bleeding at the time," Rose whispered to Lily in defense of their eldest cousin.

Alice eavesdropped on the conversation and seemed both shocked and confused, "What?"

Lily and Rose ignored the whisper and the latter just shook her head in her friend's direction.

Davinia Selwyn was quiet once more and Victoire continued with her lecture.

Once the assembly had finally come to an end, Victoire told the students that they were excused to go to lunch, but that she would stay behind in the classroom for a little while if any of the students wanted to talk to her privately. Rose and Lily had jumped up from their seats, along with the majority of the students, right away and they had exited the room so quickly that Alice had to chide them to slow down so that she could keep up.

"Godric you two you're moving as if muggle pizza was on the menu for lunch today," Alice exclaimed as she finally caught up to the pair of cousins.

"Sorry Al," Rose muttered as she slowed her pace a little so that Alice's shorter legs could catch up, "We just didn't feel the need to stay there any longer while Davinia Selwyn comes up with another topic to debate Victoire about."

Lily scoffed, "On the contrary, I quite enjoyed how Victoire knocked her down a few pegs each time she tried to be a bitch. I'm only in a rush to get to lunch because I need some sugar soon or I'm gonna crash. Vic's speeches lose their _oomph_ on their fourth or fifth recital."

"Even the one about STI's? Because some of her words conjured up an image in my head that I don't think I'll ever not cringe at when I think of it," Alice stated, her face turning a little green just at the mention of it.

Lily shrugged, "That one's worse when it comes out organically over Sunday night dinner because Dom's been bragging about the questionable bloke she brought home from a club the night before."

"Yeah, that does sound worse," Alice agreed.

"Yet still not enough to encourage Dom to become monogamous," Rose explained with a sigh.

Alice shrugged, "As long as she's using something that keeps her protected from STI's why does it matter?"

"Condoms don't protect you from a broken heart," Lily announced with a smirk. Alice glanced at the youngest Potter in surprise and Lily quickly explained, "Victoire's words to Dom, not mine."

Rose rolled her eyes at Victoire's wise words of advice and the girls picked up their speed so that they could make it to the Great Hall before all of the good food was gone.

Upon entering the Great Hall the atmosphere at all of the house tables seemed a bit subdued as students whispered about either the assemblies they had just come from –or in the case of all of the fourth-years and down– the ones they were going to endure after lunch. A specific section of the Gryffindor table seemed especially subdued, and when the three girls happened upon it they found three completely silent Gryffindors, along with a mute Slytherin and an appalled-looking Hufflepuff.

Lily flounced down on a bench in between the still forms of her fellow fifth-years Hugo Weasley and Frankie Longbottom and immediately began helping herself to a large serving of chicken pot-pie. Rose smoothly slipped next to Scorpius and sent him a thin smile which he returned as he handed her a goblet filled with pumpkin juice, and Alice giggled with morbid amusement as she sat down at the spot of the table in the conspicuous space that had been left between Albus Potter and Kieran Chang.

"So how was your assembly boys?" Alice asked the pair with a cheeky smile as she swiped a half-eaten roll off of Albus's plate.

"Hell," Frankie croaked out while Kieran and Al nodded in agreement. Neither Hugo nor Scorpius seemed enthusiastic about the assembly, but their faces weren't filled with quite the same amount of dread as the other three.

Lily snorted, but since her mouth was full of food, Rose asked what they were both thinking, "Did Professor Cooke really make it _that _bad?"

"Professor Cooke didn't present the lecture," Scorpius explained in a quiet tone, "Professor Longbottom stepped in to do it for whatever reason at the last minute."

Alice's eyes went wide with surprise but then she started snickering as she looked between her boyfriend Kieran, her little brother Frankie, and Al.

"And how'd that go?"

"How would you like to have your godfather give you a sex ed lecture along with all of the fifth through seventh year boys?" Al asked Alice sarcastically as he stabbed a piece of food on his plate with a fork.

Kieran looked around Alice to raise an eyebrow, slightly hysterically, at Al, "Does that sound worse to you than having your girlfriend's _father_ give that exact same lecture?"

Rose sent Kieran a sympathetic look while Scorpius made a face that said that _he _was glad that he wasn't dating Professor Longbottom's daughter.

"Oh boo-hoo your godfather and your girlfriend's father . . . did you lot forget that Professor Longbottom is my _actual_ father? It's like getting _the talk_ in front of all of my friends and all of my enemies," Frankie complained as he pinched the bridge of his nose in irritation.

Lily glanced at Frankie in surprise, "Do you really have that many enemies Frankie?"

"I don't think that was the point of his compliant Lil," Hugo added unhelpfully and with a complete air of nonchalance as he sipped from his cup of pumpkin juice.

"And I don't think you boys need to say anything else, I've got a good idea now how that lecture went," Alice said as she finally gave the guys a break and patted Kieran on the arm. Her boyfriend hadn't been in the mood to eat, so Alice reached for Albus's plate again and stole the other half of his bread roll from him. Al just gave her a look out of the corner of his eye and Alice winked at him before she started to fill up the empty plate that was sitting in front of her with food that _hadn't_ already been on his plate.

Hugo set down his glass of pumpkin juice and looked cheerily between his older sister and his cousin, "So how'd Vic's lecture go? If it was anywhere near as scarring as ours was for those three it might make them feel better."

Rose began, "Well, Victoire was-"

"Great," A different voice called out as Norah Summers suddenly popped up from behind Rose and slipped on the bench in the empty seat next to her, "Or I thought that Healer Weasley was great at least."

"Really?" Al asked his enthusiastic teammate with a raised eyebrow.

Norah nodded heartily, "Yup, but it was mostly because she kept shutting down Davinia Selwyn every time that complete pillock tried to rile up the classroom. No offense Scorpius."

Norah had added the last part when she remembered that the Slytherin was sitting there. She didn't actually know if Scorpius was friends with Davinia Selwyn but she did know that they played quidditch together for the Slytherin house quidditch team, so she didn't want to insult him while she was also insulting Selwyn.

"None taken," Scorpius replied with a shrug, "Davinia's not exactly my favourite person. But besides her being rude, how was the rest of the lecture?"

"Well Healer Weasley started off by telling all of the castle's fifth through seventh years that she wasn't there to tell us that we're not allowed to have sex, so I think that won her some popularity points," Norah explained with a wicked smirk on her face.

Al rolled his eyes, "Why does that not surprise me?"

"Did she use her patented frightening STI lecture?" Hugo asked curiously.

Kieran looked surprised by Hugo's use of the word 'patented', while Scorpius's face paled a little at the thought as he unfortunately knew exactly what the youngest Weasley was referring to.

"She was able to present her visual aids this time," Rose explained with a heavy sigh.

Al rolled his eyes, "Oh good. It doesn't quite have the same _oomph_ without the bloody _moving_ magical photos of gruesome sexually transmitted infections."

They should have known that speaking of the devil would make the devil appear, which is what happened a few moments later when Healer Victoire Weasley came sashaying into the Great Hall and strolled up to the Gryffindor table, her high heels making a clicking sound on the floor as she went.

"Hello kiddos," The blonde said as she smiled brightly at her cousins, Scorpius, the Longbottoms, and even Norah and Kieran.

Her cousins quietly greeted her back as Victoire stopped behind Rose and Scorpius, "I'm just stopping by to see if I've sufficiently embarrassed you enough for the day or not."

"While we know you could do better, I'm sure you've done enough for now," Lily replied calmly.

Victoire nodded her head, "Good, good." She glanced down at Norah who was sitting next to Rose, "Hello Norah, may I say that you were excellent in Gryffindor's game against Hufflepuff three weeks ago?"

"Thank you Healer Weasley," Norah replied happily.

Hugo tapped his fingers on the table, "So Vic, do you know why Professor Cooke was unable to give the boys their lecture this morning, and why Neville had to fill-in instead?"

"Why yes I do," Victoire replied with a nod of her head.

There was a long pause of silence.

"Will you tell us why?"

"Why no, I won't."

Al shrugged, "Fair enough."

"Speaking of Professor Cooke, I did promise him that I'd stop by and see him during lunch. Any of you have questions for me before I go?"

Rose twisted in her seat a little so she could look at her eldest cousin, "How're the final wedding planning details going?"

"_Uh_," Victoire replied, her confident expression changing into annoyance, "Don't mention it."

"That bad?" Hugo asked sympathetically.

Victoire sighed, "Well it's not _that _bad, but considering that it's coming up so soon, having _no_ problems would be better. Dom's now decided that she doesn't like the bridesmaids dresses that I already _let_ her pick out, because she saw one in a new magazine that she likes better; both Grandma Molly and _Grand-mère_ Apolline keep sending me messages about the kind of food _they_ think we should serve at the reception; I've had to give Baxter, James, and Freddie ultimatums about brining appropriate dates to the wedding; Great-Great Auntie Muriel's already RSVP'd to the wedding and I don't think I have any choice but to sit her at the same table as Eilionoir Wood; and the garden's got an early infestation of gnomes that seems to promise an all-out invasion by the time early summer starts, just to name a few."

Lily blinked at the rapid rant, "Well . . . good luck with that."

"Oh," Victoire said, her face brightening as she glanced at Lily and Rose, "And before I leave the castle today I'm going to see if I can convince McGonagall to allow me to spring you two this Sunday for my bridal shower."

Lily muttered 'yes' and pumped her fist while Rose sweetly thanked Victoire for her implied effort.

Victoire gave the group of Gryffindors, one Slytherin, and one Hufflepuff a wave, and reached out to ruffle Scorpius's perfectly styled white-blonde hair (a habit she had started almost a whole year ago just to see the slightly exasperated look it brought to his face each time she did it) and turned to leave the Great Hall. She had already scoped out the professor's table up on the platform when she had been chatting with the kids and she had noted Caleb's conspicuous absence. If he wasn't in the Great Hall during lunch time, she had a hunch that he'd be in his office instead.

It didn't take Victoire long to find the office of the History of Magic professor, and she barely knocked on the door before she pushed it open and greeted a surprised looking Caleb Cooke who looked as though he was in the middle of grading papers.

"Hello Victoire," Caleb greeted her after taking in her prying entrance.

Victoire smirked and sat down at a chair across from Caleb's desk, "Got any chocolate professor?"

Caleb rolled his eyes at her but then started digging through one of his desk drawers, "You could go to the Great Hall and get some actual nutritious food you know."

He found a chocolate bar and tossed it to her. She caught it easily, "First, it's a full moon tonight Caleb, and even with having taken some potion I've still got a bit of a headache and am feeling like something Mrs. Norris dragged in, so I can eat chocolate for lunch if I want to. Second, I was just in the Great Hall saying hello to my cousins, but I figured I've embarrassed the girls at least enough."

"Did your lecture go poorly?" Caleb asked as Victoire ripped open the chocolate bar's packaging.

"No, I mean Davinia Selwyn was a _little_-" Caleb coughed pointedly before she could continue insulting the student, and Victoire rolled her eyes and continued, "But from what I've heard about her from Rose it was to be expected. The whispered consensus throughout the halls seems to be that I completed my presentation better than _your_ replacement did."

Caleb sighed, "I hope they're not too hard on poor Neville, it's not like he was prepared to do it when he woke up this morning."

"I think Al, Frankie, and Kieran Change are the only ones who'll really come out of this day scarred for life, which isn't so bad really when you think about it. They were curious though, about why Professor Cooke couldn't do it instead," Victoire told her friend, the last part came out a little mockingly.

Caleb looked away from his papers, "Any chance you told them that it was because Professor Linkwell thought it would be counter-productive of me to give a sexual education lecture which is supposed to –among other things– decrease the rate of unexpected pregnancy, when I've recently discovered that I have unexpectedly impregnated my girlfriend out of wedlock."

"I thought that explanation might be too on the nose," Victoire said with a shrug in between bites of chocolate.

"Well I appreciate you keeping it a secret as long as you can, everyone's going to find out sooner rather than later anyway," Caleb said in a tone of voice that was more exasperated than joyful about the thought of soon becoming a father.

Victoire swallowed her mouthful of chocolate, "How's all of that going anyway?"

"All of my colleagues besides Professor Linkwell have been kind about it, I've gotten a bit of ribbing about the whole out-of-wedlock-thing because I'm at least fifteen years younger than all of the other staff, but it's been alright. McGonagall's been very supportive, and we've discussed these issues at length and she's agreed to allow my fireplace here in my office to be connected to the fireplace in whatever place Jilly and I eventually choose to move in to together," Caleb explained.

She nodded her head, "Which will make it quicker for you to get here and to go home. I take it McGonagall's only really allowing this because she doesn't want to lose the _liveliest _History of Magic professor Hogwarts has had in years?"

"That and because she's not too worried about the castle's security in that sense since the only other person who will have access to the floo in my future home is an auror," Caleb said as he rubbed his eyes tiredly.

Victoire chewed another bite of chocolate thoughtfully, "And how are things between you and Jilly?"

"It's hard to make important decisions like this via letter or floo, but we have decided that we should probably start looking for a place together sooner rather than later. We both have rather well-paying jobs so affording something nice before the baby's born won't be much of a problem," Caleb said.

"Teddy and I thought something similar, but the wrong real estate agent can really set you back a few paces," Victoire muttered in such an irritated tone that Caleb knew better than to ask exactly what she was talking about, "Is that all you and Jilly have talked about?"

Caleb looked down at his hands, "We haven't talked about marriage if that's what you're trying to beat around the bush about."

"I'm honestly surprised that you haven't popped the question yet. I'm sure that you've been carrying the ring around in your pocket since your last botched attempt."

Caleb nodded his head in wry agreement, "I _have_ been carrying it around, but I've yet to find the right time. Every time I think about it there's this voice inside my head that tells me not to. Not yet."

"That's either your subconscious trying to help you out, or it's a sign of Schizophrenia," Victoire suggested unhelpfully.

The History of Magic professor rolled his eyes, "Why does McGonagall let you on these premises again?"

"Because I volunteer to give sexual education lectures to the students without even the smallest hint of showing any embarrassment," The healer replied primly.

Caleb rolled his eyes and then nodded to the chocolate bar she was just finishing eating, "That's only because you're shameless."

Victoire winked at him, "That's mostly just when it's a full moon."

* * *

**5:47 PM**

When Victoire got back to her flat that evening she found Teddy in the kitchen. He was moving around an assortment of pots, pans, and containers as he seemed to be getting dinner ready. Victoire took off her cloak and removed her shoes as quickly and quietly as she could. She knew that Teddy _knew_ that she had arrived home, but he was ignoring her until she decided to greet him.

When she did, it was in a decidedly Victoire-esque fashion.

"Put the crookery down and step away from the stovetop!"

He rolled his eyes heavenward but did as she asked and slowly turned to face her. A turquoise blue eyebrow, that matched the shade of his hair at the moment, rose on his forehead and he crossed his arms in front of him, "May I at least ask why?"

In an even more Victoire-esque move, instead of replying right away she sprinted towards him and jumped at him. Her arms wrapped around his neck, her legs around his waist, and her mouth collided with his in a rough kiss as he reflexively wrapped one arm around her back and slipped the other under her arse to keep her steady. The power of her impact pushed his back against the kitchen counter behind him, and his surprise caused him to be about five seconds behind his fiancée in their kiss.

Luckily Victoire was never one who minded taking the lead. She wound her fingers in his short locks as best as she could and pulled tightly at them as she forced her tongue into his mouth. Teddy groaned loudly the second he tasted her and his hands, which were previously affixed to her to help ward-off gravity, turned to grasping fingers as he clutched at the soft curves he knew were hidden beneath her clothing.

Just when Teddy thought he'd be able to soothe their heated lips into a more loving and tender kiss he felt one of her hands move away from his head, slide smoothly around his neck down to his collar, and begin to unfasten the buttons of his shirt one-handed. He did his best to extricate his mouth from hers, and when he did he pulled his head back just long enough to choke-out, "But it's dinner time."

"I don't bloody care," Victoire whispered hoarsely as she continued to unbutton his shirt with her left hand.

Teddy swallowed thickly and groaned again, "You're always hungry."

"Fair," She replied before pressing a toe-curling kiss to his lips, "But right now I'm not hungry for food."

He made a _hmmm_ing sound before kissing her again until they were both breathless. When they broke apart Victoire was giving him a smirk that he immediately wanted to kiss off her face.

"And since there will be a full moon in the sky in a few hours, I'd hazard a guess that you're not hungry for food either."

By the end of her sentence Victoire had finished unfastening the last button of his shirt. She pushed the fabric off his chest only to pout when she found the thin undershirt he wore underneath it. Victoire trailed her finger down his chest from the top of his sternum to where the shirt was tucked into the waist of his trousers. She frowned at the offending fabric in concentration for a second until both it, and the unbuttoned dress shirt he wore over top of it, vanished.

He smirked at her demonstration of wandless magic, "Someone's a little impatient."

Her ocean blue eyes tore away from the newly bared skin of his chest to meet his sapphire coloured ones, "I'm not the only one if the tightness of the muscles in your shoulders and _other_ parts of your body are anything to go by."

A blue eyebrow rose up on his forehead at her words and she gave him another saucy smirk as she moved her hands from the skin of his chest to touch his neck, "I _am_ talking about the tension I feel in your neck of course."

"Of course," He repeated softly, his warm sweet breath fanning across her face. The dark pupils of her eyes dilated even more than they were before and there was barely any blue left in her eyes. They knew that along with headaches and the odd body ache that they also _both_ felt the same tension in their muscles and in their bodies on the night of a full moon. Over the years they'd worked out a full-proof system for dealing with it.

Teddy suddenly used his grip on Victoire's body to toss her up in the air a bit, and when he caught her again he tightened his hold on her and started walking her towards their bedroom. She had begun giggling when he first lobbed her into the air, and as he strolled them to their room she leaned forward so that her smiling lips were right next to his ear.

"I've been cooped up in Hogwarts's castle _all _day and I feel like I'm in need of a workout."

Her breath tickled his neck and she playfully nipped at his earlobe.

Her unexpected action caused a low growl to slip from his lips. She felt it reverberate from his chest into hers, and her entire body began to shiver with anticipation.

He stopped just at the foot of their bed. One of his warm hands moved from where it was wrapped underneath her thigh, to slip into her loose hair at the back of her head. He used his hold on her to move her head a little so that he could meet her gaze, "Wanna see _my_ skills of wandlessly vanishing clothes?"

Victoire licked her lips, "Yes please."

* * *

**A/N:** So what do we think of this chapter? I know that we didn't see a lot of every Hogwarts character, but there are some plot points that need to be laid, so sorry not sorry?

I would like to know if you liked the chapter though, and since my birthday is in a few days (I'll officially be a quarter of a century old and I don't know how I feel about it:S) I think I'll ask for some reviews as my present ;)

**Next Update:** I'm definitely hoping to get another update in before Christmas happens and I get very busy with family things.

**Next Chapter:** We get some Cecilia and Louis cuteness, we find out about how Victoire and Healer McDavid's spell is coming along, we get to see Louis in action at work, a bit of Teddy at the Auror Department, and James at Puddlemere. It'll be a busy one.

I want to thank everyone who has followed, favourited, and especially reviewed!

BIG thanks as always to:

**Guest (1), HufflepuffDADA, Guest (2), Guest (3), Guest (4), Guest (5), Guest (6), J, NicoleTheSmith, cjaben1, MF, widowssbite1997, Jily71102, bookstar97, Izzy, **and** Nicole**.

**HufflepuffDADA**: I'm glad that you like this story enough to keep up with it. Now that James has graduated from Hogwarts it'll be easier to write about his and Teddy's relationship and how it works and develops.

**cjaben1**: I'm glad that you liked seeing Nadia's teammates' reactions to her pregnancy. Don't worry we will definitely get to see some Tabitha and Mark at some point in this story.

**MF**: Nadia punching Clark just seemed like such a Nadia thing to do in that situation.

**widowssbite1997**: It's nice to hear from you and that you like this story.

**Jily71102: I thought throwing in a younger, smarter O'Toole that doesn't annoy Teddy wo**uld be a fun addition.

**Izzy**: Can I just say that I love your long reviews? It's nice that you give me a good summary of everything that's going on in the chapter/story as well as how you reacted to each part. Gives me a good idea of how the readers as a whole might be reacting to all of the parts. I was trying to have Jilly and Teddy pull off as edgy trainers instead of just boring or sceptical ones. I'm glad that you like the mentoring-type role Xavier seems to be falling into with James, it seems like a natural thing for Xavier to do especially because he's known James forever but can still get away with giving him constructive advice that can be difficult to take from people you know very well. You are correct in stating that Nadia, Jilly, and Anastasia don't really know each other that well. The common acquaintance between all of them is Victoire and Teddy, although now they're all going to be having children in the same year who will end up attending Hogwarts together. There was lots of Vic in this chapter, so I hope it made up for it ;)

**bookstar97**: I hope you enjoyed all of the Vic in this chapter. I'm not quite sure how long this story will be. I had an idea to write this story as shorter (and in a slightly different style later on, but I don't know if I'll be able to end up doing that or not) than my other ones but as I began writing all of these different characters wanted attention and their own separate plot lines and stories and I've already ended up throwing in more than I intended to (which happens everytime I go to write a story, so it really shouldn't surprise me) but these characters are just so interesting and have so much going on that I've got to reassess how I want to present everything that I want to write for you guys, because I don't want to leave storylines unfinished. And I am definitely planning on another story after this one. This one was supposed to be shorter (haha-ha) because I wanted to get it done sooner so that I could get started on the next story that I'm really excited to write because it's going to be so much fun. Not that this one's not going to be fun, but I've got some great arcs already in the works for the next story, but I need to get the set-up for them implemented in this story. You've been with me for a while then, I started writing these stories in high school, which is why they make me cringe when I go back and re-read them as see all of the stuff I could have written better.

**I hope everyone enjoyed this chap,**

**Please let me know what you thought of it in a review,**

**If you have any questions or concerns you can leave me a review or PM,**

**I hope my American readers had a good Thanksgiving holiday,**

**Until next time, DFTBA!**


	10. A New Wrench

**A/N:** Hi everyone, I know this chapter is late, but it turns out that several of my family members had health issues just before Christmas time, which added to the holiday busyness. I am sorry that this was late though for those of you who were waiting on it.

**Disclaimer: **I do not own _Harry Potter_.

* * *

**Recap:** The chapter before was the full moon. In the last story Vic was working with Healer McDavid to create a spell to heal scars caused by dark magic, and she had just devised a spell that healed her own scar as well a one of Bill and Harry's scars. Louis works for the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. Teddy and Jilly have more time on their hands now because they're training the trainee aurors.

* * *

**A New Wrench**

**Thursday, April 25th 2024**

**6:25 AM**

The first thing Louis Weasley noted when he slipped out of dreamland into the world of the awake was that his body hurt a lot less than it had the day before. The second thing he noticed was that he was alone in his bed, which was weird because he could have sworn that Cecilia Wood had been practically on top of him when he had fallen asleep the previous night.

Louis cracked an eye and was met with the entertaining sight of his half-dressed girlfriend waving a wand at a blouse that sat on the top of his dresser. The blouse changed colour each time she waved her wand over it. He took a minute to appreciate the scene of Cecilia standing a few feet away from him in a tight pair of navy trousers and a black bra before he slowly sat up on the bed.

"What's got you up and practicing your colour changing charms so early?" Louis questioned her as the blouse changed from a deep emerald green colour to a light pale pink.

Cecilia swore under her breath in Gaelic at the shirt, "I promised Malcolm I'd stop by his place this morning before work and proof-read the announcement he wrote for Nadia's pregnancy. It's due today so that it can be in the papers for Saturday. And I think this shirt's going to need more than just some colour-changing charms."

She kept the pale pink colour on the shirt and then started to alter the shape of the fabric with a bit of transfiguration. She vanished the buttons down the front and the scalloped collar, and made the sleeves a little more billowy. When she was finished it didn't even look like the same blouse that she had worn the day before.

"You still haven't explained why you're trying your hand at clothing design so early in the morning," Louis said as he scratched at his head. He still made no move to get out of bed.

Cecilia set her wand down and then shrugged into the newly altered blouse, "I don't have time to go home this morning before work because I need to go to Malcolm's first, and I don't want to go to work wearing the same clothes as yesterday. I wasn't exactly planning on staying over here last night in case you've forgotten."

A stupid smile slipped onto Louis's face as he remembered how he'd convinced her to sleep over the night before, "Yeah. It was definitely worth it though, eh?"

"I just don't want it to be obvious that I'm doing the walk of shame," Cecilia said with a bit of a blush as she tucked the bottom of her blouse into the waist of her navy trousers.

Louis slipped out of bed and walked towards her, "If you started bringing clothes to leave here for occasions such as this, it'd be less obvious."

Cecilia rolled her eyes and continued to fiddle with her tucked blouse, "And what do you think my father would say to that?"

"Nothing since most recently Oliver seems to be suffering from blissful amnesia every time you stay over. Which is much better than how he could be reacting of course," Louis reminded her with a charming smile as he inspected her blouse and her spell work, "Your Dad's been fine with this for over a year Cee-Cee, I don't think he'd care if you started to leave a few changes of clothes here."

She pursed her lips and started to pull her dark hair up into a ponytail, "I'll think about it."

Louis smiled at her and wrapped his arms around her waist. He pulled her towards him until their bodies were pressed together, "There's one more thing."

"What?"

He conspicuously looked down at her chest, "While I appreciate the little show you're giving me, you might want to charm your bra another colour if you don't want everybody from your office to know that you're partial to lace."

Cecilia glanced down at herself to see that her black bra was indeed very visible from underneath the pale pink colour she had transfigured on her blouse. She sighed, grabbed her wand again, and then magicked her bra the same colour as her shirt so that it was no longer conspicuous.

"Better?"

"Not really, no. I actually think I preferred it the other way."

She rolled her eyes at him and pressed a quick kiss to his chin, "Get some trousers or pyjamas on and then you can make me some breakfast before I have to head out."

Louis kissed his girlfriend's nose, summoned a pair of pyjama pants to him, and once he had them on he grabbed Cecilia's hand and dragged her out of his room and to the kitchen of his flat.

"Toast? Oatmeal? Cereal? Eggs? Fruit?" Louis asked as he gestured for her to sit on a stool at the kitchen counter while he headed towards the cupboards and refrigerated cabinet.

Cecilia smiled at her boyfriend as he looked through his cupboards sans-shirt, "Some toast with jam would be enough."

"Coming right up."

The toast was just popping out of the toaster when the other renter of the flat exited his room; he was wearing a completed set of pyjamas at least, which Cecilia wasn't sure if she appreciated or disliked. Baxter's red hair was messy from sleep and he still had creases from his pillow on his left cheek. He glanced blearily between Louis and Cecilia before taking a seat on a stool next to the latter. The first words out of his mouth were to ask Cecilia where she had to go so early in the day. She repeated her statement about needing to stop by Malcolm's; but made sure to keep the details as to why vague since Baxter did not yet know about Nadia's pregnancy.

Louis set a plate piled with toast and a pot of jam on the counter between Cecilia and Baxter, and then he started making tea for the three of them.

"So any new wedding date prospects?" Cecilia asked Baxter cheerily as she began spreading jam on a slice of toast.

Baxter rolled his eyes at her and took a piece of toast, "Not since the last time you asked, no. And why exactly would you think that my response would change in two days?"

"You work in Diagon Alley, which is full of witches and wizards. I'm sure there's lots of lovely women out there who would be ecstatic if you asked them out on a date," Cecilia clarified.

The redhead rolled his eyes for the second time that morning, "It seems like you've got at least one specific witch in Diagon Alley in mind for me Cee-Cee."

She shrugged, "Anybody who shoves their tongue into your mouth when you get stuck under mistletoe with them is probably amenable to going on a date with you."

"And you would consider somebody who would shove their tongue into my mouth when I get stuck under mistletoe with them as an appropriate date for Victoire's wedding?" Baxter retorted before taking a large bite of toast.

"I think Victoire would agree that anybody you choose to bring as your date will probably act appropriately enough during the night," Cecilia told him with a smug smile.

Baxter rolled his eyes for the third time, "And I think that you're nosey."

"Last week I was nosey," Cecilia agreed as she accepted a cup of tea from Louis, "But since Victoire gave me veto power on yours and James and Freddie's dates, I am now just trying to complete the very important job the bride has entrusted upon me."

"You may be letting the power get to your head Love."

"Piss off Louis you already have a questionably appropriate date for the wedding. We're talking about Baxter right now," She chided her boyfriend before turning from her boyfriend and rounding on said boyfriend's cousin again.

Baxter snorted and glanced at Louis, "And people wonder why I don't want to follow in your footsteps my dear cousin, and find myself a meddlesome young woman like yours."

"I think a little meddlesomeness is exactly what you need," Cecilia told him as she ignored his dig at her.

Louis finally sat down on the stool on the other side of Cecilia, "I agree Bax, I think finding someone who will turn your life upside-down is exactly what the Healer would order."

"Well not all healers are as prying as Victoire is," Baxter muttered as he picked up his mug of tea and took a long drink.

Cecilia picked her mug up as well and eyed Baxter overtop its rim, "You've got sixty-five days and counting Bax."

"Thanks for the reminder Cee-Cee."

* * *

**9:15 AM**

Victoire Weasley would have been bouncing on her toes if the expensive-looking ankle boots she was wearing on her feet didn't make that particular action almost impossible. As it was she was still too hyped-up to sit still so she was spending her time pacing a short distance up and down the hallway to try to use up her excess anxious energy.

The two men sitting down in chairs next to the empty seat that was meant for her, did their best to hide their indulgent smiles as they watched her work out her anticipated nerves.

"Everything will go fine Victoire," Healer Shawn McDavid reminded his protégée kindly as the younger Dark Arts Reversal healer kept up her circuit of pacing, "If they were going to tell us to take all of our work on our spell and jog on, they would have told us that a year ago when we started this whole process. They're not going to do it now when we're so close to the end."

Over the past almost year and a half Victoire and Healer McDavid had made a lot of headway in what had started out as a research project to create a spell to heal scars caused by dark magic. Through their hard work they had created a spell that not only made the healing of previously unhealable scars possible, but they also discovered that the spell might be able to be put to use to heal a wide range of injuries caused by dark magic before the scar had time to set in. It took a while to sort through all of the legal issues and spell certification steps required by the Ministry of Magic, but together Victoire and Healer McDavid put the work into jumping through all of the hoops the ministry had set out.

They were there that day to get their spell finally certified for use for healing scars caused by dark magic, and to see about issuing a new proposal to study the use of the spell in healing injuries caused by dark magic during the initial healing process instead of after scars had already formed. They knew that their new additional proposal would take a lot more time to push through, and would require several more years of trials, but they believed that their spell could be used for more immediate care than they had originally intended it for in their original proposal from more than a year ago.

"But they could still certify our spell for use on scars and allow us to complete more widespread clinical trials on it while also denying our second proposal to research the use of the spell during immediate healing emergencies," Victoire reminded Healer McDavid.

"If the ministry can't see that your spell works wonders for healing a wide range of injuries caused by dark magic than they're fools. Not that that revelation would surprise me at all," Draco Malfoy told Victoire with an expression that was somehow both supportive and imperious.

It never ceased to amaze her that there was such a wide variety of facial expressions that it seemed only people who had been sorted into Slytherin were able to utilize. She wondered if the skill was some sort of Slytherin rite of passage that was passed down throughout the descendants of the house and only taught to the students of said house.

Victoire nodded at her fiancé's cousin, "Thank you again for joining us today Draco. You didn't have to."

"Despite how brilliant you are Victoire, you are wrong about that. A few hours of my time is a small price to pay for what you've given me . . . or more accurately, what you've taken away," Draco said in a quiet tone.

Healer McDavid pretended that he couldn't hear the exchange going on between the two as he knew first-hand how difficult it was for certain Slytherins to thank someone they didn't want to feel dependant on. Victoire smiled softly at Draco but chose not to spend too much time on his gratitude as she didn't want to make him feel uncomfortable.

Fortunately they were soon called into the office of the ministry official they were there to see, and it didn't take the three long to get settled into the official's office, or for Victoire and Healer McDavid to start discussing their projections and plans for when their spell would get past the latest hurtle.

"So once you give the spell its final authorisation today, we can move to our next stage of widespread trails which –as you can see by the paperwork we have here– has already been green-lit by St. Mungo's Dark Arts Reversal ward," Healer McDavid was explaining as he handed several documents over to the ministry official.

The official took a minute to scan the paperwork Healer McDavid gave him, "Everything looks like it's in order for that . . . it says here that Healer Weasley will be mostly in charge of recruiting subjects for the test trails completed at St. Mungo's?"

"Yes, Healer Weasley is in charge of arranging test trials at the hospital while I will be focusing on searching for unique cases to test the spell on to ensure that it will be functional on a variety of dark magical injuries," Healer McDavid added.

Victoire handed the official another sheet of parchment, "Since I still have daily full-time responsibilities in St. Mungo's D. A. R. ward I will perform the majority of the healing spells and fill out the initial paperwork for the test trails at St. Mungos', while Healer McDavid will be in charge of analyzing the majority of the data and checking in with the subjects at a later date to record possible after effects."

"Sounds like everything is in order here then," The ministry official said with a nod, "Will you also be training other healers to be able to use the spell during this test trial phase?"

"We think more consistent trials need to be conducted before we can determine what would be the best way to teach other healers how to utilize the spell properly," Healer McDavid explained.

The ministry official nodded again, wrote a note down for himself, and then asked if there was anything else either healer wanted to address.

Victoire shared a look with Healer McDavid, and then the latter handed the official the paper proposal for getting their spell clearance to be used in dark arts healing situations prior to scar production.

"So you believe that this spell could be used in many cases to heal injuries caused by dark magic directly after the injury occurs?" The ministry official asked them.

Victoire thought her next words over very carefully, "We believe that it could be very helpful in situations where it's difficult to pinpoint the exact dark magic used or for curses where there are no direct counter-spells."

"Do you truly believe that the spell is strong enough to work on recently created injuries?"

Healer McDavid and Victoire were prepared for a question the question. They began pulling out the visual documentation they had of their spell's effectiveness. Healer McDavid made a point to show that the spell was proven to work on healing scars caused by many different dark magics, and Victoire made eye contact with Draco and gave him a light nod.

"We have also had success with the spell working on magic as malevolent as a dark mark," Victoire told the ministry official as she pushed a previously taken picture of a dark mark on a pale arm across the surface of the table.

Despite the photo being just that, a photo, the official gave the slowly moving image of a skull and snake a cautious look.

"Your spell made a dark mark disappear?"

Victoire cleared her throat quietly and Draco held his left arm out and pulled up his sleeve to show the bare skin of his arm. Expecting a few moles on his pale skin that exactly matched the photo, Draco's forearm was clear of scars of any type.

The ministry official swallowed thickly and looked at Draco without making direct eye contact, "That was your arm?"

"Yes, Healer Weasley cured the scar more than a year ago and I've yet to have any adverse after effects because of it," Draco explained in his usual authoritative tone that still also somehow sounded slightly bored.

The official nodded his head and looked through the other visual evidence of the spell's success, glancing back at the picture of the dark mark and at Draco's bare arm every once in a while as he did so.

"This proposal of course would require a similar process as to what you've already completed with the original iteration of the spell. It could fast-track towards clinical trials quicker of course, but final spell approval to allow it to be used throughout the continent may take longer as identifying all possible side effects of the spell being used in drastic emergencies situations will require many more trials," The official warned them, it seemed that their evidence had convinced him to at least give the new proposal a chance.

Neither healer seemed surprised by his announcement. Healer McDavid pursed his lips, "We had presumed as much. Although we would like certification to allow both myself and Healer Weasley to be allowed to use the spell in emergency situations for this suggested new iteration of the spell so that we can start gathering basic data for this new proposal. We will of course have potential emergency subjects sign informed consent waivers as we would with any of the test subjects who would encounter this spell for scar-removal use."

"I believe I should be able to push that type of emergency experimental spell use paperwork through rather quickly since it is only asking for permission for two healers to be allowed to do so," The ministry official explained.

Healer McDavid smiled brightly, "Brilliant!"

* * *

**9:47 AM**

Louis glanced at his partner to make sure that he had followed him to the right house after they had apparated to the street a few seconds before, seeing as Louis was the one that had the address of the house they were interviewing at in his possession. Agent Westcott was about five years older than Louis, and even though Louis had seen the agent around the Department of Magical Law Enforcement several times over the last two years, he had never had the opportunity to work with him until they were paired together that morning to look into the owled-in-complaint they had been assigned.

As Louis had just finished training less than a year ago he was still always paired with a more experienced M. L. E. agent whenever he was allocated an assignment, so he figured it was only a matter of time before he'd be assigned to work with Agent Westcott.

"Would you like to take the lead?" Louis asked Agent Wescott as the younger man came to a stop just at the front door of the house.

Agent Westscott, who was only about an inch or two shorter than Louis and who also had blonde hair, shook his head, "No, you can go ahead and take the lead. Owled-in complaints like these are usually pretty simple and by-the-book."

Louis nodded and then knocked on the door twice. The owner of the home answered it right away, he must have been waiting for them, and invited them inside after Louis introduced himself and his partner as Agents Weasley and Westcott from the department of Magical Law Enforcement and showed him their badges. Once inside the home Louis efficiently explained the reasoning for their visit and re-read note they had allegedly received from the home owner via owl earlier that morning to make sure that they were all on the same page.

"Yes that is correct," The home owner said once Louis had finished reading the note, "There were a lot of loud screaming and growling noises coming from my neighbour's house last night. It was a full moon last night, and I am aware that Mr. Smedley is a werewolf and that he usually transforms in his home in some sort of safe-room."

"Then may I ask why last night in particular caused you to contact MLE if this happens every month?" Louis enquired of the home owner.

The home owner nervously rung his hands together, "Well, you see usually the house is rather quiet on nights with a full moon. This was the first time I heard such noises and I was understandably worried about Mrs. Smedley and their children."

"Are you suggesting that Mr. Smedley might have injured some of his family members last night?" Louis asked in a no nonsense tone.

The neighbour shook his head, "I don't know if I'd go that far . . . I saw both Mrs. Smedley and both the children outside at some point already this morning and they all seemed fine. I just can't get the noises from last night out of my head they seemed so . . . unnatural."

Louis shared a look with Agent Westcott, who nodded and then addressed the home owner, "Thank you for your information Sir, we will perform a welfare check on your neighbours to make sure that everything is fine."

They exited the house soon after and as they crossed the street to get to the Westcott's house Louis spotted two very familiar aurors leaving a house directly to the right of the Smedley home. Louis waved his arm in the air to get the aurors attention and they met him and Agent Westcott at the mouth of the walkway that led to the Smedley home.

"Hello there Weasley," Auror Hayden Summers addressed Louis cheerfully as his partner nodded at the younger MLE agent, "What brings you to this neighbourhood?"

Louis gestured to his partner, "Agent Westcott and I were assigned to inspect a complaint from across the road. The neighbour's worried about the Smedley's here and wants us to essentially do a welfare check."

"Interesting," Kurt Williamson said with pursed lips, "We were also assigned to inspect a neighbour complaint about the Smedley home. Did your neighbour mention ominous sounding screaming and animalistic growling from the night before? This neighbour's worried about dark magic of some sort."

Agent Westcott folded his arms across his chest, "It seems that our neighbour was more well-informed. The neighbour said that Mr. Smedley is a werewolf and that the screaming and growling is not usually ordinary even during a full moon. He said that the other members of the house seemed fine upon first glance but he still wanted us to check it out."

Hayden nodded, "That makes sense. If sounds like that aren't normal for Mr. Smedley something else might have happened last night. Although it is also likely that the man just went through a difficult transformation."

"In that case we can always just hand this case off to MLE and have them send us their follow up notes when they're finished," Kurt suggested with an easy going shrug.

Hayden rolled his eyes at his partner, "You really dislike this grunt work don't you? We're not just going to hand off our assignment to Agents Weasley and Westcott just because we're rather certain that nothing concerning dark magic has occurred. We still need to know for sure that nothing else happened, and then we can leave the case to MLE."

"Why not?" Kurt asked, "MLE agents are used to boring assignments like these since they're unqualified for much more." The last part was said with a teasing wink in Louis's direction.

The part-veela MLE agent rolled his eyes, "Ha, ha, ha. As if that trope hasn't already gotten old from all the times I hear it from Uncle Harry and Uncle Ron during Sunday night dinners. I chose to apply for the department of MLE instead of applying to the Auror Department on purpose, not because I tried and failed at the latter."

"I still don't know how Shacklebolt let you get away with not sending at least one application to our department," Kurt told him.

Louis shrugged, "Kingsley's nowhere near as frightening as he makes all of you think he is."

"Anyway," Hayden said coming back to the main case at hand, "Kurt and I'll join you two in checking in on the Smedley's until we figure out who'll get final jurisdiction. Teamwork and inter-department cooperation's been a big theme that Jilly and Ted have been trying to drill into the trainees recently and she'd probably have our heads if we acted in a way that they're trying to stamp out of their trainees."

Agent Westcott nodded and gestured for the aurors to lead the way. At the front door Louis and Hayden stood closest while their partners stood behind them. Hayden knocked on the door and after a few moments a tired looking woman answered the door with a slightly guarded suspicious expression on her face, "Yes?"

Hayden introduced himself and Kurt as Aurors Summers and Williamson from the Auror Department, while Louis identified himself and Agent Westcott as agents from the department of Magical Law Enforcement. Hayden explained that two of the woman's neighbours had owled in reports to their respective departments about hearing worrisome noises coming from the house the night before and that the neighbours were concerned for the occupants' welfare. Louis asked if they could come in to further discuss the issue, and Mrs. Smedley let them in even though she looked rather harried.

She politely offered them tea which all four declined, and she left the room for a moment to collect her husband as she knew that they would want to talk to him. When Mrs. Smedley came back with her husband Louis tried to keep his expression cool. Mr. Smedley looked drawn, sickly, and he had wounds on the visible skin of his hands and face that looked as though they had only just closed up a few hours prior. It looked as though just breathing was hurting the poor man, and if they hadn't had the tipoff about Mr. Smedley suffering from lycanthropy Louis would have been able to figure it out just from seeing the man's condition so soon after a full moon.

"Mr. and Mrs. Smedley we will do our best to make this quick, some of your neighbours have expressed their concerns for members of this household because they heard a lot of screaming coming from this house last night," Louis said gently but with authority, "Now, Mr. Smedley we were told that you suffer from lycanthropy?"

Mr. Smedley nodded mutely.

"How long have you suffered from the disease Sir?" Hayden asked the man as Kurt pulled out a notepad to make begrudging notes.

"It's been just over three years now," Mr. Smedley explained in a hoarse voice that was barely more than a ragged whisper.

Louis nodded and wrote a few notes of his own, "One of your neighbours also said that you usually transform in your home Mr. Smedley."

"Yes," Mr. Smedley coughed to clear his throat but he only succeeded in making his voice sound raspier, "When I first . . . contracted the disease the ministry's Lycanthrope Support Services division of the Department for Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures came here and helped turn the basement into a protected transformation space for me to use. They followed all of the rules required to create one, and I've used it each and every month since."

"Good," Louis said with another nod, "Mrs. Smedley do you and your children stay here during full moons while your husband's transformed in his safe-space?"

Mrs. Smedley shook her head, "No. Lycanthrope Support Services explained that it was safe to do so, but our children and I always spend the night away at my husband's parents' home. We don't come home until the next morning after the sun's risen."

"Are your children here now? Just so that we can ensure that we saw all of the residents of the house with our own eyes?" Hayden asked the parents.

Mrs. Smedley nodded hurriedly and left the room to find their children. She came back not two minutes later with a five-year-old boy and a seven-year-old girl. Both children seemed shy but Kurt had soon charmed them enough to allow him to get close enough to them to do a cursory inspection that was enough to confirm that both children were in good health.

"Your neighbours originally owled our departments because they were concerned after hearing the noises that they did last night. It's obvious that the noises came about from your transformation but they indicated that noises like that weren't common even during full moons," Louis explained.

Here Mr. and Mrs. Smedley shared a guilty look and Mr. Smedley frowned, "Last night's transformation was worse than the others . . . that is probably why the noises were so conspicuous to our neighbours."

"Is there a reason why your transformation last night was more difficult for you?" Hayden asked with just the right tinge of curiosity.

Mr. Smedley coughed again, "Last night was the first time since I contracted lycanthropy that I did not consume a Wolfsbane potion."

"Is there a particular reason why you did not take the potion? It couldn't have been because you preferred not to," Louis asked boldly. He knew that there were a very select few lycanthropes who preferred not to take the potion for their own (and in Louis's opinion ridiculous) reasons, but Mr. Smedley was a family man who didn't seem as though he would chance risking the pain or his family by not taking the potion.

The husband and wife shared another guilty look, "This month was the first time that my potions' insurance company has refused to pay for my Wolfsbane potion. I get mine and my family's potions' insurance through my work and it usually covers everything we need; it's covered the potion for the past three years in fact. About a week and a half ago we received a notice from the insurance company that they were no longer going to cover the expense of the potion."

"What about the ministry's Wolfsbane subsidizing program?" Westcott asked. It was the first time he'd spoken since they entered the house.

"Our household income is too high to qualify for the subsidizing program," Mr. Smedley explained.

Hayden titled his head a little, "Were you unable to purchase a potion from an apothecary?"

"We tried to, but all of the apothecaries we visited told us that the price of the potion had risen because of added expenses and the potion was too expensive. Normally we'd scrounge up the money and make some sacrifices, but we had issues with our heating earlier in the month that was an unexpected expense, and then both the children hit a growth spurt and needed new shoes and cloaks . . ." Mr. Smedley's words trailed off and he looked down at his feet. He seemed ashamed to admit that they'd been unable to afford the potion that month.

"Circumstances and unexpected expenses happen," Louis told Mr. Smedley sympathetically, "Do you be believe you'll be able to access the potion for next month?"

Mr. Smedley shrugged his shoulders, "Hopefully whatever shortage the apothecaries had that raised the price will be solved. Unfortunately I missed work yesterday, today, and probably for another day at least because of my injuries from the night before, so there will be a few less days on my paycheck this month."

"I've also had to take some time off to care for my husband," Mrs. Smedley admitted sadly, "But I'm sure we can make it work. We've got twenty-nine days to figure something out."

She was trying to be optimistic because in their situation it was either that or getting a head start on worrying for another month.

Hayden thanked the couple for allowing them into their home and answering their questions, and then he and Agent Westcott handed Mr. Smedley their business cards and contact information. After the four men exited the house Kurt glanced at Louis questioningly.

"How much exactly does a dose of Wolfsbane potion cost from an apothecary?"

Louis frowned as he considered his words, "I'm not exactly sure actually. Every few months we all give Ally a bit of cash when she needs to buy a new stock of ingredients for it. I'm sure she makes it at cost though and doesn't take into account the cost of her work or time."

"Good point," Kurt said with a nod. He reached out to shake Louis and Agent Westcott's hands, and at his side Hayden did the same and stated, "Since this case is not directly related to dark magic, you guys get to write up the report and file it. You can send us a copy when you're done so that we can file it away with the original complaint we received."

The two aurors apparated away soon after that and Louis told Agent Westcott that he'd write up the report when they got back to the ministry.

* * *

**10:45 AM**

"Alright," Jilly called out to the room filled with the assembled group of first-year auror trainees. The trainees, who had been working on an assignment in small groups and who had been creating a fair amount of noise fell silent upon hearing her voice, "It's a little early but we're going to take our break right now so that when we come back we have the rest of the day left for uninterrupted work."

The trainees trailed out of the room in only a slightly quieter fashion, and Teddy noted that the younger O'Toole seemed to be much more popular with his fellow trainees that day ever since it had been announced that he had been the only one to complete the exercise from the day before without getting caught by muggle agents. O'Toole had successfully talked himself into the muggle intelligence building without using any magic on any muggle, and in doing so he had not only earned the respect and envy of most of the other trainees, he had also been put on record as the only person to complete the exercise twice in one single attempt.

Teddy waved his wand to erase the words written on the board behind them and then he and Jilly then escaped the 'classroom' so that they could grab some tea and go back to their shared office where they wouldn't have to stare at their trainees for at least an hour.

Their partners Kurt Williamson and Hayden Summers were already in their shared office space when Jilly and Teddy walked in, and as Teddy sat down on his chair Jilly asked the other pair if they had gotten up to anything fun yet that morning.

"Not really," Kurt replied with a shrug, "Just practicing out inter-department cooperate with MLE."

Teddy rolled his eyes, "That doesn't sound very encouraging."

"Actually-" Before Hayden could announce that the endeavour had been completed rather successfully because of Louis's presence the door to their office opened and Auror McKenney and an unfamiliar man about a decade older than Teddy entered the office.

"Lupin excellent, just the person I was looking for," Auror McKenney announced pleasantly with a nod to the metamorphmagus.

Kurt pouted at the older auror, "How come I'm not the person you're looking for?"

"Williamson no one ever purposely goes looking for you," McKenney told him with a roll of his eyes, he then turned to face Teddy specifically, "Auror Lupin I'd like to introduce you to Orrel Combs, Orrel this is Auror Ted Lupin."

The man with Auror McKenney –Mr. Orrel Combs apparently– smiled brightly at Teddy and reached forward to shake his hand enthusiastically, "It's an absolute pleasure to meet you Auror Lupin."

"It's nice to meet you as well Mr. Combs," Teddy replied politely but with a lot less enthusiasm than the other man had displayed.

"Wait," Hayden interrupted as his face took on a slightly dazed expression, "Are you the Orrel Combs? The author?"

Mr. Combs nodded at Hayden, "I take it you've heard of me?"

Hayden started nodding his head rapidly, "Your books are brilliant. My favourite is your Solomon Sophus the Seer series."

Upon hearing the name of the titular character in Mr. Combs's most famous literary series, a memory of the name on the cover of a book Victoire had bought for Molly that last Christmas flashed through Teddy's mind.

"Isn't that the series where the character is an obliviator and can see the future?" Teddy asked Hayden.

"So you're familiar with my work as well?" Mr. Combs questioned Teddy excitedly.

Teddy put a neutral expression on his face, "I believe one of my cousins is a big fan, although I can't claim to having read any of your books yet."

"That's quite alright Auror Lupin," Mr. Combs said cheerily, "I'm actually rather pleased that you don't have any preconceived notions about me or my writing one way or another."

Teddy wanted to give the man an odd look because of his weird words, but he refrained since the author seemed to be a friend of Auror McKenney's.

"Perhaps you could explain to Auror Lupin why I've introduced him to you Orrel," Auror McKenney said in a brisk tone that was meant to remind his friend that all of the aurors were still officially on the clock.

"Yes, of course," Mr. Combs said as he clapped his hands together in glee, "Since I've finished the Solomon Sophus the Seer series I've been looking for inspiration for my next novel series. I decided that I wanted to do something about an extraordinarily talented auror. I met your supervisor Auror McKenney years ago when he was scheduled to be my security for a function of some sort and we've been friendly ever since. I contacted him when I decided on creating an auror character and began asking him for advice on how best to develop my character. My first thoughts were to write about an auror who was extremely talented at Legilimency, then one who was an animagus, I even contemplated someone who was half-vampire and had all of the power and speed but none of the blood-lust until I came upon the perfect character trait: a metamorphmagus."

Even though Mr. Combs didn't need to explain much more because Teddy knew now why Auror McKenney had decided to introduce the author to him, Mr. Combs continued on in his same delighted tone of voice.

"So when I mentioned wanting to write about an auror who was also a metamorphmagus and asked McKenney how a person like that would fit into that position, he very helpfully explained that he actually had a colleague who was both a metamorphmagus and a brilliant auror and I became intrigued. I asked him if he would do the honour of introducing us so that I could ask if you would allow me to interview you once or twice so that I could ask you about your abilities and how they coincide with your position in the Auror Department."

Mr. Combs took a breath and then sent Teddy a hopeful smile, "So, would you be amenable to helping me flesh out my character Auror Lupin? I would be very grateful for the help and I would of course officially recognize any help or support you give me during this writing process."

Teddy took a few minutes to consider Mr. Combs's words. While he did have a bit of a healthy if not slightly irrational fear of agreeing to be interviewed by authors about his own life and exploits (something Harry had always warned him about even though Ginny would argue that not every author was as despicable as Gilderoy Lockheart) he would rather Mr. Combs's write about a metamorphmagus auror factually than just with whatever stereotypes were flying around about people with his abilities. He also realized that he had a lot of extra time on his hands in the upcoming months while he was assigned to training duty, so he figured that a few interviews with Mr. Combs about his powers might break the monotony a little.

"I'd enjoy answering your questions and helping you create your character Mr. Combs," Teddy told the author politely.

Mr. Combs reached out to shake Teddy's hand again, "Oh thank you, thank you Auror Lupin! This is wonderful!"

* * *

**11:14 AM**

After Victoire and Healer McDavid's successful meeting with the ministry official, Victoire profusely thanked Draco for coming with them to help convince the officials that their spell was valid. Her fiancé's cousin waved off her thanks a little embarrassedly and then quickly left the ministry. Healer McDavid and Victoire shared a high-five, and then the elder healer left to file the paperwork the official had given them during that meeting. Victoire made to go with him, but Shawn insisted that she go on and spend the rest of her day off getting caught up on paperwork for her full-time job, or even on a few last minute wedding planning details.

The mention of the words 'wedding planning' had Victoire frowning and dragging her feet as she wandered through the ministry towards the general direction of the building's exit. When she got into the lift she only travelled down one floor before the doors opened up and let a sour-faced employee into the gilded box. As the person took their sweet time to enter, Victoire curiously glanced out of the lift and into the hall. When her gaze caught sight of an absolutely humongous line of people on the floor she instinctively stepped out of the lift and onto the floor that held the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures.

The large line of people were waiting outside the open door of the division that held Lycanthrope Support Services, and Victoire slowly walked towards the large cluster of tired looking people. Being the day after a full moon, several of the people lined up must have suffered from lycanthropy themselves as they had an exhausted look about them that only someone who had turned into a werewolf the night before could have. Others in the line didn't seem quite as fatigued or beat-up, but from the worried looks on their faces it was obvious that they were no less invested in whatever they were there to do than if they themselves had lycanthropy.

Just before Victoire was able to enter the office that held Lycanthrope Support Services, the door swung wide open and a woman in her thirties stalked out. Victoire jumped aside so that she wouldn't get into the woman's way, but upon a second look she realized that she recognized the woman.

"Mrs. Norton?"

The woman stopped at hearing her name and automatically turned to glance at Victoire.

"Healer Weasley?"

Victoire nodded at the woman. Mrs. Norton was the wife of a patient with lycanthropy that Victoire had met with the week previously, and Mr. and Mrs. Norton had discussed with her, among other things, the unfortunate circumstance that the ministry's Wolfsbane subsidising program was changing and had made it difficult for people from a lower level of income to obtain the potion every month.

"Hello Mrs. Norton–," Victoire started in a conversational tone only to stop once she saw the completely broken look on the woman's face, "Is there something wrong?"

Mrs. Norton took a deep breath, "It's–it's nothing you need to worry about Healer Weasley."

Victoire didn't buy it, "If there's something wrong that will end up affecting Mr. Norton's health I would like to know."

Mrs. Norton looked very worried. She glanced over her shoulder as if to make sure that there were no ministry employees around, and then she said quietly to Victoire, "My husband has prescription potions and salves that we use on him the day after a transformation to help with the injuries he accumulates and the sore muscles, and we get them with funding that Lycanthrope Support Services gives out specifically for post-moon treatment."

Victoire nodded at her words, she was very familiar with the system after all.

"After I helped patch him up from last night I ended up using all of the after-care potions and salves we had in stock so I came here to request more," Mrs. Norton continued, "However after standing in line almost all morning and waiting until I finally got the chance to speak to someone they told me that the department is reassessing how they are going to fund potions and such for post-moon treatments and that until they made an official decision about it they are suspending all funding for the program."

Victoire had started grinding her teeth together before Mrs. Norton had even finished her explanation. Once the lady was finished Victoire began to ask her a few more questions that Mrs. Norton unfortunately was unable to answer. She did however find out from several people standing around in line near them that many of them were also there to discuss the rumour about the funding for post-moon treatment being cut-off. Many others were there to complain about their eligibility for the Wolfsbane subsidising program being changed, and after only about fifteen minutes of discussion with those poor people Victoire excused herself and marched her way into the office and to the front of the line.

She interrupted the ministry employee who, by the sound of the bits of the discussion Victoire had gleaned upon her arrival at the front desk, was just about to tell the man standing in front of her the exact same and unhelpful spiel about the temporary block on funding that Mrs. Norton had been given.

"Excuse me," Victoire said without an ounce of apology, "But could you please explain to us why the department has decided to cut this funding?"

The man standing next to her seemed shocked at her sudden appearance, but judging by the scars and premature lines and wrinkles on his face, he was too tired to question what she was doing. The ministry employee across the desk from the man on the other hand looked both shocked and immediately had their guard up. Which, all things consider, Victoire thought a good position for the employee to take since she was definitely ready for a fight and that the employee would be stupid to not recognize the look on her face.

"Is there something I can do to help you Miss-"

"Yes," Victoire said doing her best to hold back an eye roll, "There is. You can answer mine and this fine man's previous question about why the post-moon treatment funding has been cut off."

The woman frowned and swallowed thickly, "The funding hasn't been cut off. The funding has just been frozen until the department head can reassess and redistribute-"

"And how long will that take?" Victoire interrupted the woman again.

The employee scowled at Victoire and gave her a hard stare, "I can record down your name if you would like to file some sort of complaint Miss-"

"Healer Weasley," Victoire supplied for her as she crossed her arms over her chest, "And I would like to know exactly when your department decided to freeze the funding and when you expect it to be back. This is information that is imperative for myself and other healers at St. Mungo's to know since it directly interferes with us providing care to our patients. I'm shocked that nobody from your department has informed us about this yet."

She knew that she was laying it on a little thick considering that she hadn't been to the hospital yet that day and didn't know for sure that the Ministry hadn't informed her ward or another yet about the changes. However, considering that all of the people in the very long line she had skipped were unaware until they got to the ministry about the change in funding, she was fairly certain that the ministry department had yet to inform anybody about the funding changes.

"If you would like to make an appointment with one of my superiors, Healer Weasley," The ministry employee said with a bit of a sour look on her face, "And come back at a later date to discuss the particulars of these funding changes, please feel free to. Unfortunately this is all of the explanation I can offer you or anybody else at this time."

While Victoire would have liked to make an appointment for the very next day, she knew that she would have to wait until Monday at the earliest. She was to work a full day in the D. A. R. ward on Friday, and during the weekend she had her bridal shower in France to deal with. On Monday she worked the evening shift at St. Mungo's so she'd have time during the day to attend an appointment at the Ministry.

After making a very firm appointment to speak to one of Lycanthrope Support Service's higher ups, Victoire turned her back on the poor employee at the front desk and huffed away. She found Mrs. Norton again at the door that functioned as both the entrance and exit for the office.

"Does Mr. Norton have any particular complaints about his body post-transformation? Perhaps I could offer a different type of post-moon treatment that is more cost-effective," Victoire inquired.

Mrs. Norton looked thoughtful, "I know that a lot of his pain stems from his scars and that most of the potions and salves we used the funding for was to address those pains. I don't see how you could come up with an alternate treatment course for those."

Victoire did her best to hold in a huge smile upon hearing Mrs. Norton's words, she didn't want the woman to think that the idea of her not being able to treat her husband made her happy. Or that she just had a habit of smiling at weird times.

"Treatments are continuously evolving Mrs. Norton. I'd think it would be very beneficial for your husband if he contacted the hospital to make an appointment with me sometime in the next week. I even work a few night and evening shifts this week if that makes it easier," Victoire suggested helpfully.

Mrs. Norton nodded but Victoire wouldn't leave until she made the woman promise that she would ensure that her husband do so. On her way out she distributed some business cards with her name and the department she worked for at St. Mungo's on it, out to some of the people waiting in line who seemed to be the most in need.

* * *

**6:59 PM**

"SHIFT YOUR CENTRE OF GRAVITY AND ADJUST YOUR POSITIONING FIVE DEGREES TO THE LEFT!"

"OKAY, NOW EXTEND YOUR RIGHT ARM HIGHER AND BEND YOUR ELBOW MORE!"

"WHEN THE QUAFFLE COMES TO YOU THE NEXT TIME TRY A GRIERSON-HOBBS CATCH!"

Katie Bell-Wood lightly drummed her fingers on the quaffle she was holding and turned to face the woman who, even though she was almost a whole foot taller than her, seemed to have been yelling in her ear for the past half hour at least.

"Cassano, you do realize that it is practically impossible to complete a Greirson-Hobbs catch with the magnitude of arm extension you just suggested, right?"

Nadia Cassano took her eyes off of the flying form of their newly minted starting centre chaser who was currently idling forty feet in the air above them and glanced at the other woman, "But he needs to be able to do both at the same time to make up for the deficiencies caused by his bad catching habits."

"Right-wing chasers are taught to catch differently than centre or left-wing chasers, his skills are not bad habits," Katie reminded Nadia for what felt like the sixth time that day, "Once he gets better at catching across his midline and works on strengthening his throwing from his non-dominant arm he'll get better. This is only his second day training in the position."

The tension in Nadia's shoulders released a little with Katie's reminder, but she was still rather stiff as she said, "But until those abilities strengthen he'll need to master a Grierson-Hobbs catch with that arm extension-"

"When was that last time you ate Nadia?" Katie asked her, switching to using her first name to indicate that she was wearing her friendly façade and not her professional one.

Nadia frowned in confusion, "Noon. But I don't see why-"

"You're hangry right now Nadia, and if you aren't the baby definitely is," Katie explained with an indulgent smile, "And we've been at this for six hours straight. Everyone else went home an hour ago when normal practice ended, and James has been here at the pitch for over twelve hours already today. I think we're done for now."

"But-"

"And you're getting frustrated and stressed, and stress is not good for you or the baby. It's time call it a day. And you and Malcolm are travelling to Italy to tell your family about your pregnancy tomorrow, and I'm not going to allow you to delay that because you were out too late the night before and were too exhausted to portkey," Katie added.

Nadia didn't exactly agree with the first part of Katie's statement, but she couldn't ignore that she was tired, hungry, and that the shouting voice necessary to communicate her advice to Potter up in the air was starting to make her blood pressure rise. The Nadia Cassano from a month before would have been insulted to have someone insinuate that she didn't know her own feelings or limits. The Nadia Cassano who was presently a human incubator and who was filled with so many more hormones than normal didn't quite know how to react. She wasn't used to having such quick mood swings and the idea that she wouldn't be able to control them for the next several months scared her.

The only thing she thought she could do at that moment was to take a deep breath and think about things sensibly. Katie had spent much more time training players to play the position of centre-chaser than she had, and while Nadia wasn't dim in any sense, coaching someone to play a position was very different from actually playing that position. If Katie's advice was that everyone was finished for the day, than that was probably the best call that could have been made.

She did her best to ignore Katie's jibe about her uncanny ability to find excuses to not travel back to Italy and tell her family about her pregnancy. Her original plan had been for her and Malcolm to travel to Italy on Tuesday directly after they announced her pregnancy to her team, but she convinced Malcolm that they should push their travels back a day so that she could see James's first practice in her position and give him some starting advice.

Her second excuse to push their travel day all the way to Friday had been more flimsy, but Malcolm had acquiesced because he was honestly too frightened of her aforementioned mood swings to argue with her about it. He finally put his foot down about ensuring that they'd portkey to Italy first-thing Friday morning though, to at least inform her parents and her friends Dante and Annalisa Azzarà about her pregnancy if only because his article announcing her pregnancy to the wider wizarding world was due to be published in Quidditch Weekly's next issue which was slated to be published that upcoming Saturday.

Neither Nadia nor Malcolm wanted her close family and friends to find out about her pregnancy via the media, and as nervous as the couple was about telling her family (and Dante) and about it they knew that things would go much worse if they didn't inform her family about the pregnancy in person. Nadia was, understandably, worried about her parents' reaction to her unintentionally getting pregnant, while Malcolm was most worried about Nadia's childhood friend Dante's reaction to him having been the one to unintentionally knock Nadia up. In the past his girlfriend would swear that Dante was only ever putting on a disapproving façade just to get a rise out of Malcolm, but a part of Malcolm was always worried that there was some sort censure that ran deeper than that of a man just taking the piss out on an English bloke who was dating his childhood best friend.

Katie put her whistle to her lips and blew out a high-pitched sound that signaled to James Potter and Eason above them (the second-string left-wing chaser who had been recruited to help James practice by continuously lobbing the quaffle at him in an easy arc) that practice was done for the day.

Eason was grateful to be given an out and he scurried away quickly, James on the other hand looked tired but seemed to be fueled by a single-minded determination that both Katie and Nadia had to respect.

"I'm still good to go for a little while longer," James told both women ingenuously.

Katie patted the dark haired young man on the shoulder, "And we appreciate that dedication James, but it really is time to pack it in. I've got to get home to make sure that Oliver didn't poison Brogan with whatever he made for dinner tonight, and Nadia needs to go home and get ready for her trip tomorrow."

James nodded and eventually sauntered away of the pitch and into the locker room. He showered quickly, changed into street cloths, and then pulled his muggle mobile phone out of his locker as he thought about how quickly he could scrounge up something to eat. Fortunately, his phone contained a text message from Freddie from about an hour earlier explaining that he was going over to Baxter and Louis's flat for take-out, and that if he (James) could pry himself away from his broom at some point before eight o'clock that they'd save him some. James immediately sent Freddie a message saying that he had just finished and would meet him there.

It didn't take long to apparate to the building that held Louis and Baxter's flat, and when he got inside and knocked on the door of his cousins' flat he wasn't surprised to see Cecilia Wood open the door.

The dark haired girl, who really did look a lot like her mother, smirked when she saw the exhausted Puddlemere player, "Finally escaped Nadia did you?"

James stepped into the room and removed his muddy trainers, "Your mother convinced her to end our practice before her rising blood pressure could become dangerous for the baby."

Cecilia noted the wry sarcasm in James's tone, but she knew that there must be a ring of truth in it.

"Did your practice not go well?" She asked as she led James out of the small foyer and into the open concept living room/kitchen space.

Louis, Baxter, and Freddie were sitting in the living room and were in the middle of a conversation but they all sent him some sort of wave as Cecilia further led James into the kitchen where they were keeping food under a warming spell for him.

James picked up the take-out container his cousin's girlfriend had gestured to and opened the lid to peek into it while he answered, "I'm exaggerating a bit. It didn't go poorly, it just didn't go as well as either myself, or Nadia it seemed, wanted it to."

"It's only your second day of practice in that position," Cecilia reminded him in a manner that was scarily reminiscent of Katie, "And Baxter and Louis both had a hankering for Greek, so that's what we ordered. I hope that's okay."

As a professional quidditch player James had quickly learned that after a long day of practice there was no such thing as being picky when it came to food. He would have eaten anything at that point, but was quite glad to see that they had order Greek and that someone had very thoughtfully (either Baxter or Cecilia he guessed) ordered him something healthy with lots of vegetables and only a moderate amount of empty carbohydrates.

"I know, I just thought I'd be showing more improvement by now. And thanks, I love Greek food," James told Cecilia as he accepted a fork from her.

Cecilia rolled her eyes at him, "Sounds like you've been taking advice from my father."

"I just want to do a good job," James defended after he finished chewing his first bite of food, "I'm young and I've got the energy to practice hard, I just need the guidance and the time to practice."

His cousin's girlfriend summoned a glass and began to fill it with water, "Are my mum, Nadia, and the other coaches not giving you enough of that?"

"They're amazing, as expected of course, I just know that I can do more."

"You need time to rest too," Cecilia reminded him as she handed him the glass.

James took another bite of food and chewed thoughtfully, "I know that. And I will have more time to rest once I get my catching across my midline up to scrape and get better at throwing with my non-dominant arm. But until I get there I need to practice three times as hard, and unfortunately I need to be coached as I do it so that someone can pick up on the mistakes that I don't notice I'm making."

"Which I totally get, and I'm sure both Mum and Nadia understand that too."

"But your mother has a five-year-old at home to worry about and Nadia's growing a new human being. They don't need any more on their plates than they already have," James said as he stared down despondently at his take-out.

Cecilia pursed her lips as she inspected James, "Forgive me if this sounds too obvious, but why don't you ask your mother for help with extra practice. Ginny also played centre-chaser professionally for years and your parents have a regulation-sized quidditch pitch in their backyard."

James groaned at her suggestion and set down his take-out, "We've tried that every night since I found out that I was being given the chance to play Nadia's position. I know that it's only actually been two nights, but I think she would agree with me in saying that that experiment was doomed to failure and that it would be best for our relationship if we never attempted it again."

"That bad huh?" Cecilia asked sympathetically. She knew better than anyone how hard it could be taking direction from a parent about quidditch or how to do better at their job. She could only imagine how difficult it would be to take direction on both at the same time.

"I love Mum," James stated sincerely, "But we are way too similar of personalities to be able to work with each other like this. It seems that I don't take direction well from her, and she does not take suggestions from me well."

Cecilia snorted and effectively lightened the mood, "That's understandable. I get it. Trust."

And she did.

The only reason she preferred to play the position of chaser, even when it was for fun, was because she got much more out of Katie's quidditch teaching style than she did Oliver's. In fact, both Cecilia and Oliver were amazed that Cecilia could play the position of keeper so well considering that each keeper training session her father had tried to implement over the years for her had ended so disastrously. Just like Cecilia had difficulty taking direction from her father because their personalities were so similar, James seemed to have the same problem with Ginny. Unfortunately for James, his other parent was not a centre-chaser with the experience to give him the right direction and advice, but a seeker whose quidditch experience was completely different and unhelpful for the specific task ahead of him.

"Thanks . . . but I'm still in the same situation as before. I need additional practice on top of my Puddlemere practice, but I need someone to train with who knows the position intimately," James explained as he picked his take-out back up.

Cecilia pursed her lips and seemed thoughtful for several minutes as James scarfed down half of his meal.

"I have a suggestion that might help you . . ." She said slowly, her eyes shewed that her mind was still busy with whatever she was plotting, "But it might take a while to put into effect. I'll look into it and then text you about it later."

James swallowed a mouthful of food, "Are you going to tell me what this suggestion is?"

"I'm going to find a new person to coach you on how to be a proper centre-chaser, preferably someone who doesn't have young or unborn children to worry about, or any life at all actually," Cecilia mused as she started to tap her fingers on the kitchen counter.

"You don't have to do that for me," He told her quietly.

She shrugged, "I don't mind helping. Especially if it means keeping Nadia's blood pressure below boiling and at a safe level for the baby."

"Fair enough," James said with a nod.

Cecilia gave him a smile, punched him lightly on the shoulder, and then he followed her out of the kitchen –the remainder of his take-out in hand– and into the living room where Baxter, Louis, and Freddie's conversation had somehow (but not exactly surprisingly) turned into an argument.

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**A/N:** I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter, please leave me a review to let me know what you thought of this update.

I hope everyone had a good Christmas/Holiday season!

**Next Update:** Not quite sure, I have to finish writing it first.

**Next Chapter**: Victoire's bridal shower takes place in France, so we get to see lots of her family members.

I want to thank everybody who has followed, favourtied, read, and especially reviewed. Just a little reminder for those who review anonymously, if you leave me a question in your review I'd like you to attach some sort of pseudonym or identifier to it so that it's easier to reply to you here.

BIG thanks yous as always to:

**carbo21, Break This Spell626, Jily71102, TheAmazingElle, Saagarika, lovelyjello, CrackHeadBlonde, Guest (1), HufflepuffDADA, Guest (2), Guest (3), MF, bookstar97, audrey3horses, Guest (4), LilyGinnyLunaMcGonagall, Izzy, Guest (5), Chikthepotterhead, rosesnlilies, Guest (6),** and** Guest (7).**

**Break This Spell626**: Yes, well judgy is one of Linkwell's main character traits.

**Jily71102**: NAdia's pregnancy will be publicized by the next chapter. In the story she had only just announced to Puddlemere that she was pregnant on the Monday, and the chapter of the kids in Hogwarts was on that next Wednesday.

**TheAmazingElle**: Don't worry, I totally understood where you were coming from :)

**lovelyjello**: And thank you for the lovely review.

**audrey3horses**: Since next chapter is Vic's bridal shower, I'm sure we'll see Eliza and Rowan pop up for a little bit.

**LilyGinnyLunaMcGonagall**: Welcome to my wizarding world, I hope that you enjoy the ride!

**Izzy**: Thank you for another wonderful review! And I think you know me well enough to trust that any dangling plot threads leftover from previous stories will be addressed one way or another at some point in this story ;)

**I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter,**

**I want to thank everyone for waiting patiently for this update,**

**Please leave me any questions or comments you have in a review or PM,**

**I'm wishing everyone a happy and safe end of the holiday season and a Happy New Year,**

**Until next time, DFTBA!**


	11. Bridal Showers and Steamy Showers

**A/N: **Hello everyone, I know this update is a little later than you'd probably like, but it took me a while to get this chapter out. In fact, the day covered in this chapter ended up being three chapters long so I had to split it up, but more on that later.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own _Harry Potter._

**Warning:** Dom and Alexandrie like to annoy the crap out of Victoire, so as they wreak havoc they may say some things that are a little PG 13.

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**Recap:** Vic's got a bridal shower in France with all of her friends and family from both sides. Nadia and Malcolm's article about them being pregnant would have come out the day before this chapter, and they were in Italy to tell her parents in person.

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**Bridal Showers and Steamy Showers**

**Sunday, April 28th 2024**

**11:42 AM**

Victoire Weasley felt as though the muscles in her cheeks were going to cramp from all of the smiling she was doing, and it wasn't even noon yet. The official start time of her bridal shower –as listed on the well-priced invitations Fleur had complained looked too boring– was supposed to be noon, but it appeared that French veelas were more than punctual and enjoyed arriving at parties and appointments early. Or at least all French veelas who weren't her cousin Alexandrie were punctual and prompt. Victoire's face was sore because her mother had insisted that she personally greet all of her guests and she'd already had to smile at half a score of blonde women before the party had even formally started.

Between the blindingly bright smiles and double-cheek kisses for everyone, Victoire's face was getting the biggest workout it ever had. Since most of the guests that had arrived were from her mother's side, she had also been giving her French language skills a good rehearsal. It wasn't until after Victoire had a _very_ detailed conversation with her mother's cousin Tatienne about the extensive process she and Healer McDavid's spell had to go through to get certified, that she was able to switch over to English to greet her guests.

"Oh thank Merlin you're here! Someone needs to go find Dom and make sure that she doesn't spike _every_ punch bowl with liquor since there _will _be children and pregnant women present," Victoire exclaimed anxiously in lieu of a greeting.

Lucy Weasley gave Victoire a quick hug in greeting and then announced "I'm on it" as she stepped into the large sitting room of Victoire's Aunt Gabrielle's house and made a beeline for Dominique Weasley.

"Just take a deep breath Vic," Molly suggested helpfully as she placed her hands on her older cousin's arms and modelled a deep breathing exercise.

It was a testament to how stressed out Victoire was feeling about her bridal shower that she actually took Molly's advice –instead of saying something sarcastic as she was more likely to do– and began breathing in a few deep breaths through her nose and out through her mouth. While she did so she tried to pinpoint what exactly she was most worried about.

Victoire knew that she could handle her French family members, and she could handle her Dad's side of her family and her friends, but she wasn't quite sure if she could handle them all together in one place at the same time. Her mother had tried to convince her that her bridal shower would be a good test run for her wedding, but with only half the gender of all of the guests, but that only made Victoire worry more about the actual wedding.

As Victoire's deep breathing started to turn shallower and stepped into hyperventilation territory, her Aunt Audrey gently shuffled Molly to the side and pulled Victoire into a loving hug.

"Tell me what you're most worried about Sweetheart," Aunt Audrey said in that gentle tone of voice that Victoire had always loved to hear during her childhood whenever family gatherings got out of hand and it seemed like there was only one rational adult in the house.

Victoire breathed in the familiar smell of Audrey's perfume, "I'm worried that something bad is going to happen and that everyone's going to hate each other and think horrible things about each other but that they're all too polite to say anything like that to someone's face, which is just going to lead everyone being catty to each other behind their backs-"

"Even if that were to happen," Audrey interrupted her niece before Victoire's verbal spiral could continue, "Is there anything you can do to control it –short of casting an imperious curse on half of your guests that is?"

Victoire's face took on a suddenly guarded expression that immediately made Audrey and Molly suspicious, "So is that a suggestion of how to ensure that this goes over smoothly?"

Audrey rolled her eyes while Molly pinched the bridge of her nose, "Don't you have _any_ idea what your fiancé, uncles, and godfather do for a living?"

"Someone's spending too much time with Ally," Victoire muttered under her breath as she ushered her cousin and aunt into the sitting room space of her Aunt Gabrielle's home, where the bridal shower was to take place, before her Aunt Audrey could question her on whether or not she was serious about _imperious_-ing a guest or two.

Her aunts Hermione Weasley and Ginny Potter were next to arrive, and since they had both collected their younger daughters before portkeying to the country, it gave Victoire a welcome distraction.

"I'm so glad you two made it!" Victoire exclaimed excitedly as she pulled Lily Potter and Rose Weasley into a somewhat suffocating group hug after she'd greeted her aunts.

Rose smiled kindly as she extricated herself from Victoire, "We're glad that you were able to convince McGonagall to let us floo home. This will be much more fun than a Sunday in the library-"

"Yeah, yeah," Lily interrupted Rose's words as she flattened her red hair down that had been disturbed by Victoire's bear-hug, "Where's the dessert table?"

Her mother rolled her eyes, "It's too early for sweets Lil. We haven't even had anything resembling lunch yet."

"Fine," Lily replied with a suspiciously easy shrug of her shoulders, "Then where's the beverage table? Dom said she was going to make some special recipe punch-"

Ginny reached forward to grab her sixteen-year-old by the back of her sweater before she could wander further into the room, "Nice try. You can have pumpkin juice or a can of soda as long as the seal hasn't been broken."

Lily crossed her arms over her chest and pouted. Ginny gave her a look that quickly put her sulking into place and Lily walked towards the beverage table while muttering something about wanting to see what kinds of different drinks French wizards produced. Ginny, Hermione, and Rose made to follow the pouty Potter, but Victoire waylaid Rose for a few more minutes to ask if Alice Longbottom had travelled with them. While convincing McGonagall to allow Rose and Lily permission to leave the castle grounds to attend her bridal shower, she had also mentioned to the headmistress that an invite to the shower had also been sent to Hannah Longbottom inviting both her and Alice to the shower and that Neville might also ask for permission for Alice to leave the castle for the day.

Rose sighed heavily at Victoire's question, "Well Hannah was busy today because she's short staffed at work, but Neville had originally gotten permission for Alice to come with us. Unfortunately, she got caught out of bed and in the corridors late last night by Linkwell and he gave her detention for today."

"All day?" Victoire asked curiously, not that it would surprise her to hear that Linkwell had gone above and beyond when it came to disciplining Alice's relatively innocent misconduct.

"Yes, she got an extra-long detention because Linkwell wanted her to give up who she was meeting with so late at night because the excuse she had given him was so lame even to him. Obviously he knew that it was Kieran that she had gone to meet with, but without any proof and with Alice not admitting to it one way or another she got the full brunt of his irritation," Rose explained.

Victoire held in a smirk as she remembered how little things like weekend detentions from Linkwell used to seem like the end of the world when she was back at school, and told Rose to go ahead into the sitting room as she had more relatives from her mother's side to greet.

Several more cheek kisses later, some of Victoire's friends from England finally started to arrive. She greeted her healer friends from St. Mungo's Cassidy Hopewell and Sarah MacGregor with an amount of excitement that startled the pair at first, but she was just really glad to be speaking to two people whose first response to seeing her wasn't to narrow their eyes and inspect every inch of her until they found something about her appearance to comment upon.

"I'm so happy to see you guys! However did you get away today Cassidy? I thought you had to cover for me in the D. A. R. ward?" Victoire asked the two women that she had met years ago in healing school.

Cassidy smirked and threw a look at Sarah that made the other woman blush, "I was supposed to work today, but I got an owl from Wesley yesterday who said that he'd take my shift for me so that I could come to the party."

"Well that was kind of him," Victoire replied to Cassidy even though she was also grinning a little too brightly at Sarah as well.

Sarah rolled her eyes at their less-than subtle insinuations, "Maybe he just thought he'd do a nice favour for two of his colleagues."

"Even though he'd just come off a twenty-four hour shift in a different ward?" Cassidy responded with a snicker.

"Or maybe," Victoire said doing her best to hold in her own laughter, "Wesley did it because he wants to get on someone else's good side."

Sarah straightened her shoulders, and besides the light blush on her cheeks, she did not give her colleagues anything else, "Well whatever his reason it ended up working to your advantage, so I don't think we should question it."

Since a bit of a cue was forming behind the healers, Sarah took the opportunity to excuse herself and escape into the sitting room.

"I'll get some of that fancy French wine into her and then work on that topic just a little bit more later," Cassidy promised Victoire with a mischievous grin before following Sarah into the room.

Fleur's cousin Josseline and her daughter Aurélie were next, which gave Victoire the chance to ask them how late they thought Alexandrie would be to the party. Aurélie laughed at her twin sister's expense and then replied that she would be attending the party with her girlfriend and that she was much more punctual than Alexandrie was.

After pointing out Fleur's current positon to her cousin Josseline, the pair entered Gabrielle's trendily decorated sitting room and Victoire turned to the next group of guests.

"Oh it seems like it's been forever!" Victoire exclaimed as she unceremoniously pulled her best mate Sandra Line into a tight hug.

The curly haired woman returned the hug just as tightly and it made the other two women standing near them laugh. Anastasia Knott giggled with delight as she watched the obvious affection between the two embracing women, while Ally Weasley had rolled her eyes and let out a bit of an exasperated chuckle as she observed the pair.

"It's only been like a week since you last saw each other," Ally reminded the hugging pair needlessly.

Sandra pulled out of the hug a little and glanced from Victoire to Ally, "I think someone's a little jealous. C'mon and join the hug Ally-Cat."

Ally scoffed but couldn't sidestep the group hug that suddenly engulfed her as Victoire and Sandra set upon her. Anastasia kept giggling from where she stood but stood back from the madness that was Victoire and Sandra forcing a tight hug and an attempted hair-ruffling on the younger woman, as she was worried that their tangle of limbs might end with her getting an elbow or a forearm to the abdomen. Once they had decided that Ally had been subsequently squeezed enough, they let her go and Victoire bestowed a much softer hug on the four months pregnant woman.

"Go ahead in and get something to eat and drink, when I'm done with my greeting duties I'll find you guys," Victoire told them as she watched more people enter the house.

They were barely gone before Cecilia Wood came skipping up to Victoire and gave her boyfriend's sister a big hug, "Happy bridal shower day! Or whatever you're supposed to say at these things."

Victoire chuckled but then glanced curiously at the empty space behind Cecilia, "Did you not bring your mother with you?"

"Oh, we portkeyed to the end of the laneway about the same time Nadia did and she started vomiting. Mum said she'd take care of her and that I should come ahead in," Cecilia explained.

The blonde woman frowned worriedly, "Poor Nadia, she really needs to start taking a potion for that nausea or she's going to end up nutrient deficient."

"She promised Ally she'd fill the prescription Healer Jarvis wrote for her once she got back home from Italy. She portkeyed straight here from there while Malcolm took another one back to England. From what I could gather from her explanation to Mum, in between the dry-heaving, was that he wanted to travel with her here and then back to England, but that she wouldn't let him because it wasn't necessary and that he didn't need to treat her like an eleven-year-old muggleborn who'd never used magic before," Cecilia narrated as she shrugged her shoulders.

Victoire pinched the bridge of her nose, "Well at least her spirit is still intact."

Despite the grim picture Cecilia had painted with her words, Katie Wood walked in a few moments later with not one but two nauseas-looking pregnant women on either side of her. As they came closer, Victoire could hear the elder mother of three giving both first-time pregnant women some advice.

"So girls, we'll find some plain crackers and some sparkling water and those upset stomach should clear right up," Katie was saying as they came to a stop in front of Victoire and Cecilia.

The tallest woman on Katie's right side was the aforementioned knocked-up girlfriend of her nephew, Nadia Cassano, while the other woman on Katie's left was the much further along pregnant auror that worked with Teddy, Jilly Donaldson.

"Has your morning sickness started to bother you as well?" Victoire asked Jilly concernedly. Jilly was already three months pregnant and usually morning sickness abated after the first trimester finished.

Jilly waved off Victoire's concern with her hand as a bit of colour started to come back to her face, "It's only when I portkey or apparate. Besides that it hasn't been bothering me."

Nadia scowled at Jilly heatedly, and if the two women hadn't already discussed their pregnancies together at length during the last party they were at together, Jilly would have taken the glare she was getting personally.

"I hate you very much right now."

Katie patted Nadia on the back comfortingly, "It will eventually pass."

"The morning sickness?"

"And the mood swings."

Here Cecilia scoffed disbelievingly.

Katie raised an eyebrow at her daughter, "What was that for?"

"You had mood swings from Brogan's conception all the way through to his birth," Cecilia reminded her.

Katie shrugged her shoulders, "Your father brought the worst out of me when I was pregnant."

"Because he breathes too heavily?" Cecilia retorted.

Nadia let out a long sigh, "Malcolm does the exact same thing!"

Victoire bit her lip to hold in a laugh and then gestured for the women to enter the room. There was nobody else waiting behind them, so since there seemed to be a gap in the arrival of her guests, Victoire followed the pregnant women and the Woods into her aunt's sitting room to help get them situated. A few plain crackers and some surprisingly expensive sparkling water were rather easy to round up, and as Victoire watched the colour come back into Nadia's face she started quizzing her about how her trip to Italy had gone.

Nadia spoke favourably about her parents and her family's reaction to her and Malcolm announcing their pregnancy to them on Friday. Apparently Nadia's parents had been so excited to hear that she was going to give them a grandchild in eight months that they didn't care that it had occurred accidentally. The professional quidditch player had rolled her eyes when she recalled the next part to Victoire where her mother had gone so far as to thank Malcolm for knocking up her daughter because she had given up hope on getting a grandchild out of Nadia for several years. She thought she'd have to wait for Nadia to retire from quidditch before that would occur. Nadia's best friend Dante Azzarà hadn't had quite as cavalier an attitude as Nadia's mother did about the accidental pregnancy, but ultimately he was happy to see Nadia happy and he only ribbed Malcolm just a bit about him knocking up his childhood best friend.

"And since Malcolm's article was published yesterday, everybody knows about the pregnancy and you don't have to worry about telling anybody else," Victoire told Nadia comfortingly.

"Actually," Nadia said as she shifted on her feet uncomfortably, "Malcolm got a howler from Grandmother Eilionoir this morning. She was furious that she had to find out from his article in _Quidditch Weekly _that he impregnated me."

Victoire's jaw dropped, "You–you guys didn't tell her about it earlier?"

"I thought that stupid Malcolm did," Nadia grumbled, "But it seems with all of the other things he was worried about, he was putting off telling her to the last minute and then ended up forgetting to mention it to her."

"So she had to find out from a magazine article that her grandson is having a baby?" Victoire asked with a wince as her mind conjured up an image of an irate Eilionoir Wood glaring at Malcolm's well-written article about Nadia's pregnancy.

Cecilia, who was very poorly hiding a smirk, piped up, "I for one particularly enjoyed the look on her face when she found out. Obviously she doesn't keep up with _Quidditch Weekly_, but she saw the article because Duncan had brought a copy of the magazine to Saturday morning brunch. She was so shocked to hear about the pregnancy that she didn't even appreciate how well written and entertaining Malcolm's article was."

"I read that article too, Malcolm did a wonderful job on it," Jilly added helpfully.

Nadia pinched the bridge of her nose, "Yeah, if only that was enough for his grandmother."

"Don't worry, I'm sure I'll end up doing something to inadvertently displease Eilionoir within the next week that will shift her disdain. Being angrily petty at me is usually her default setting anyway," Katie reminded Nadia cheerfully.

Jilly took a sip of her glass filled with sparkling water, "And here I thought my life had issues because my boyfriend and the father of my child lives in a castle in the Scottish wilderness for ten months of the year. At least I won't have half of England talking about my pregnancy."

"You can be sure that it will be a topic of discussion among all of the students of Hogwarts once they find out though," Victoire added unhelpfully.

Jilly sent her a look, "_Thanks Victoire_."

Victoire chuckled good-naturedly at Jilly's expense but then excused herself so that she could pace back to the other side of the room where she saw Eliza Parker just entering the room with her toddler attached to her by the hand. The bride greeted Eliza sincerely, but didn't waste time before scooping little Rowan Parker-Dickinson up in a hug. Rowan squealed lightly and squeezed Victoire tightly around the neck. Victoire's duties as sort-of the hostess were then required near the front door of her aunt's house again, so she took the adorable toddler with her while she directed Eliza to go have a good time.

"I see someone stole your daughter," Cecilia said to Eliza in lieu of a greeting once Eliza had wandered over to her.

Eliza pulled Cecilia into a hug, "I'm not too worried, I'll get Rowan back when she starts to get fussy."

"That'd be true of anybody else holding her, but I think we both know that Vic'll just calm her down and then get back to business," Cecilia said as she reached for an opened bottle of red wine from the beverage table and started to pour some into a glass.

Eliza pushed a piece of her long dark hair behind her ear, "Yeah I guess that's true."

Cecilia handed her friend the glass of wine she poured, "You're not really worried about Rowan are you? She's like the best behaved toddler I've ever met."

"She's just been a little short on patience lately. Benjamin told me to leave her with him today and just come by myself, but she's the flower girl and I knew that Vic would want to see her-"

"Finish that glass and I think you'll feel better about your choices," Cecilia offered with an earnest nod.

Eliza eyed the wine skeptically but then she shrugged as if to say 'what the heck', downed her glass of wine as if it was a tequila shot, and then told Cecilia to give her a refill.

"If you want something stronger I've heard some whispered gossip about a particularly potent bowl of punch Dom made," Cecilia offered with a raised eyebrow.

"Does it have the potential to destroy my liver?"

Cecilia shrugged, "Well Dom's been hiding the bowl itself and keeping its existence on the down-low so Victoire doesn't find out about it . . . so it can't exactly be _good_ for you."

Eliza clenched her teeth together, "I've still got a toddler to look after this afternoon, so I think I'll pass on that and stick to wine."

"Good choice," Cecilia said with a nod, "C'mon let's get something to snack on."

Eliza got fifteen minutes of child-free time before Rowan came running up to her, Victoire following after her and laughing while Rowan started to ask for treats from the table that held the sweets. Eliza told Rowan that she needed to eat something first that wasn't sugary, and after handing her daughter a napkin filled with cheese and crackers, Rowan toddled off to the closest corner of the room where Victoire's twin ten-year-old cousins Émilie and Esmé had created a game out of playing with some of the balloons and streamers they had snatched from some of the party decorations.

Eliza looked like she was going to go after her daughter, but under Cecilia and Victoire's combined reassurances allowed her daughter to be entertained by the two young girls while she stood a few meters away so that she could keep sight on her from the corner of her eye.

Victoire wandered away from Eliza and Cecilia as the two women began to chat in a way that only two best friends could. She made a stop at the beverage table for herself for the first time that afternoon, and she reached for a bottle of wine made from her Uncle Marc's vineyard before deciding at the last second that she needed something a little harder if she was going to go interact with more of her family members, so she poured herself a shot of straight Firewhiskey and downed it in five seconds flat.

From behind her a voice addressed her in French, "I wasn't informed that this was going to be _that_ kind of party."

Victoire spun around and her face broke out into a bright smile when she laid her eyes on Noëlle Varens. She even let out an uncharacteristically girlish scream that was immediately matched by Noëlle as the two blonde woman threw their arms around each other in a tight hug. When Victoire first met Noëlle Varens during her last year of Hogwarts when they were both chosen as Tri-Wizard champions for their respective schools, she would never have imagined that they would have become friends by the end of the year let alone that they'd stay in touch for several years after the fact through infrequent visits and more frequent letters.

"Can I have some?" Noëlle asked Victoire cheekily as she pointed to Victoire's empty glass when their hug had run its course.

Victoire grinned and poured a few inches of Firewhiskey into the empty wineglass Noëlle held in her hand, "As long as you don't tell my mother that it's _that _kind of party."

"Cross my heart," Noëlle replied with a nod of her head before she chugged back the drink.

"So how'd you sneak in here without my noticing?" Victoire questioned her curiously as she contemplated taking another shot of Firewhiskey.

Noëlle shrugged her shoulders, "I believe you were attending to a pregnant woman at the time, and then after that I got waylaid by one of your cousins that I knew at school and I only just escaped her."

"Fair enough," Victoire replied as she decided to give in to temptation and pour herself another generous helping of Firewhiskey.

Noëlle smirked and gestured to the bottle of Firewhiskey, "Deal me in for another round. But a little less generous than yours."

Victoire mirrored her smirk and dispensed Noëlle another, much smaller, pour of alcohol in the wineglass. She clinked her glass against Noëlle's and they saluted each other before drowning their drinks in unison.

"I see you haven't changed much Noëlle," Announced the annoyingly familiar voice of Gisèle, Victoire's Aunt Gabrielle's step-daughter.

Noëlle recognized the voice too, and when she turned to face Gisèle her eye roll upon seeing the skinny blonde was larger than even Victoire's had been.

"Hello Gisèle," Noëlle replied in very contemptuous French, "Fancy seeing you here. I didn't know that you were friends with Victoire."

"I'm not-"

"She's not-"

Gisèle and Victoire replied at the same time.

"Well obviously not, I doubt you'd be that desperate for friends Victoire," Noëlle replied in a tone of voice that made it clear to Victoire that Noëlle was not a fan of Gisèle. And based on the eye roll and huff Gisèle emitted, it was also clear that she disliked Noëlle as well.

Noëlle tapped her fingernail against the glass of her wineglass, "So Gisèle, how did you end up here? Did you hear about the free alcohol and decide to freeload?"

"No I live here."

Noëlle shot Victoire an unbelievable glance.

Victoire sighed, "We're step-cousins."

"But I am curious to find out why you're here Noëlle," Gisèle said condescendingly, "It's not like there are any guys here to tempt you. No boyfriends to steal."

Noëlle smirked, "Well colour me surprised that Gisèle Rousseau is still not over the fact that Gaétan Charpentier would rather date _immature_ me at fifteen than _boring_ you at seventeen."

Victoire was becoming increasingly uncomfortable with the conversation, and was going to sneakily slip away and let the two old schoolmates go at it, until Dom happened to accidently wander by and decided that she was enjoying how the conversation was going and blocked Victoire in so that she could eavesdrop.

"Gaétan Charpentier was enchanted by me, the only reason why you turned his head was because he knew you were easy," Gisèle replied angrily.

"Oh," Dom whispered to Victoire, "This is getting good."

Noëlle rolled her eyes, "Honestly Gisèle, I probably did you a favour there. Everybody knew that Gaétan Charpentier was a womanizer. I doubt I was the first girl he was secretly snogging while he was publicly flirting with another."

"Gaétan Charpentier was a gentleman!" Gisèle insisted.

Victoire did see her cousin Alexandrie coming up behind the arguing pair in front of her, but apparently Alexandrie didn't see _her_ frantic head shaking that she was trying to utilize to signal that Alexandrie shouldn't enter the mess of _whatever_ was going on between her friend and her step-cousin.

"Gaétan Charpentier, now that's a name that I haven't heard in a while," Alexandrie exclaimed as she came to a stop right beside Noëlle and Gisèle.

Noëlle blinked a little in surprise at Alexandrie's sudden entrance, but she took it in stride, "Alexandrie, tell us what you knew about Gaétan Charpentier's history with women while at Beauxbatons."

"Well I personally know that he was a wonderful kisser," Alexandrie said after thinking over Noëlle's request.

"As always Alexandrie makes things even better," Dom told Victoire as she summoned a bowl of chips to her and started to snack on them while she watched the drama unfolding.

"What?" Gisèle asked Alexandrie sharply.

Alexandrie shrugged, "It's true. We snogged once or twice over our latter years at school. He's got a talented mouth and he was pretty free with his affections, so he was fun to use to whittle away the time. But he was about as flighty with his affections as I was so it never really turned into anything but that."

"He wouldn't just snog anybody-" Gisèle tried to defend only to be cut off by Alexandrie and Noëlle's sudden snickers.

"Sure he wouldn't," Alexandrie said sarcastically before she glanced around and called out her twin sister's name loudly.

Aurélie popped up out of nowhere in a way that Victoire just realized was rather common to her French relatives as well as herself, and Aurélie glanced at her sister enquiringly, "Yes?"

"Were you acquainted well with Gaétan Charpentier back in school?" Alexandrie asked her twin.

Aurélie shrugged, "He grabbed me once in between classes during sixth year and started snogging me because he thought I was you. Although, I thought that that was all a load of crock because we're not exactly _identical_."

"He's a good kisser isn't he?" Noëlle asked cheerfully.

Aurélie smirked, "Well he definitely had a lot of practice with a lot of different girls by then."

Gisèle did not look happy with this new information, but she didn't seem quite as agitated with Alexandrie and Aurélie's presence as she had earlier when it was just Noëlle taunting her. Victoire had decided that she was going to unceremoniously change the topic –not that she was very annoyed with how everybody was teasing her least favourite cousin (non-blood related or otherwise) but because her mother and Aunt Gabrielle had put a lot of effort into organizing a classy and tasteful shower for her and encouraging an argument between her step-cousin and her old friend would decidedly ruin the atmosphere– but she was unable to intervene because she spotted a newcomer to the party enter the sitting room and knew she had to go greet her.

"Make sure that this doesn't turn into a full on duel will you?" Victoire whispered to Dom in a quiet enough tone that didn't register with the four blonde women who were still arguing about some bloke they knew back during their Beauxbatons years.

Dom raised a disbelieving eyebrow at her older sister, "You really think I'd want to stop Noëlle and Gisèle from hexing each other?"

Victoire pinched the bridge of her nose, "I'm the bride and you're my maid of honour. You're supposed to make wedding related issues easier for me!"

"Fine," Dom muttered with an exaggerated pout. She moved her hand to her chest and made an 'X' motion with her finger to mime crossing her heart, "I'll make sure this doesn't break down to Weasley-dinner level of confrontation."

"That's all I'm asking for," Victoire sighed.

After quietly excusing herself from the other women, Noëlle and Aurélie heard her and waved while Alexandrie seemed more concerned with giddily adding fuel to the fire that was Gisèle's temper, Victoire paced across the room. Before Victoire had the chance to greet the slightly late newcomer, she saw that the short red haired woman was in good hands as she had already been intercepted by Sandra Line. After Sandra and the redhead shared a tight hug the latter woman went on to greet Ally and Anastasia enthusiastically before pulling Nadia Cassano –who was probably a whole foot taller than the redhead– into a supper tight hug along with a few squeals.

Victoire caught the tail-end of the squealing/greeting as she got closer to the group, ". . . and when Dimas told me that there was something in _Quidditch Weekly_ that I needed to see I rolled my eyes and reminded him that quidditch isn't really my cup of tea, but my dear husband was _so_ insistent about my looking at it that I finally relented and then lo and behold! There's a beautiful picture of you and Malcolm announcing that you're going to have a baby!"

Nadia, who had been smiling politely at Charlotte Cabrera upon first seeing her, was staring to look a little green from the tightness of the hug and the jumping motion the shorter redheaded woman was inflicting upon the nauseous quidditch chaser. As Nadia's face started to issue major warning bells, Charlotte seemed oblivious and continued to chatter on.

"And it's just so exciting that you and Malcolm are going to have a baby at the same-" Charlotte finally spotted the look on Nadia's face and immediately let her go, "Oh dear. Morning sickness?"

Nadia nodded and then turned to her left where Ally was already waiting with a handful of crackers and a glass of sparkling water that she had hastily summoned to her when she saw that Charlotte's habitual enthusiasm was literally making Nadia sick.

"You poor thing," Charlotte told Nadia with an apologetic smile, "I'm so sorry about bringing it on. I remember how awful I felt during that phase. The first few weeks of my first trimester were awful."

Victoire, who was just about to politely welcome Charlotte and alert her to her presence, emitted a choking disbelieving sound upon hearing Charlotte's admission instead of the greeting she'd intended to say.

"Hel–Wha?"

Short red haired Charlotte Cabrera, who was an ex-girlfriend of Teddy's from his last year at Hogwarts, was such a happy and bubbly person that Victoire couldn't ever really recall having seen her in a sour mood before. Charlotte always seemed to have an endless amount of energy and cheerfulness, and her reserves still seemed pretty full as she smiled brightly at Victoire and bestowed upon the blonde a look that anybody else would reserve for only their closest friends.

Victoire wished that she could have reciprocated Charlotte's bright grin upon seeing the other woman, but unfortunately when Charlotte turned to face Victoire, the latter woman's face took on an expression of surprise that anybody but Charlotte might have found offensive. Charlotte had a rounded stomach underneath her designer wrap dress. There was either half a quaffle hidden under Charlotte's dress, or she was sporting a baby-bump that was about the same size as Anastasia Knott's.

"Hi Victoire!"

"You're pregnant."

Charlotte chuckled good-naturedly at Victoire's response and pulled the blonde bride-to-be into a hug which allowed Victoire to feel the baby-bump she was sporting, "Yes I am. I'm four months today actually!"

"Wow, congratulations," Victoire finally forced her mouth to say, "But we've been in contact via letter over the past few months and you never mentioned it!"

Charlotte grinned, "I was going to let all of your know when I was passed ten weeks, but then I got Victoire's invite to this bridal shower and I thought that I'd surprise you!"

The 'you' in this equation was obviously Victoire, Sandra, and Ally whom Charlotte had gotten to know pretty well over the past few years, although she didn't seem to mind that Anastasia and Nadia were around for the announcement either.

"Well it was a surprise," Victoire said, her brain starting to work again even though she felt her heart clench a little upon hearing that someone else she knew was pregnant, "But a wonderful one. I hope you're doing well, and Dimas too?"

"Dimas is great, he's _so_ excited about the baby. And the baby and I are both doing wonderful. Once I got over the morning sickness as I was telling Nadia–" Charlotte paused here and then glanced back at Nadia excitedly, "Rowena Ravenclaw! Nadia yours and Malcolm's baby is going to be the same age as mine and Dimas's. This means if I can convince Dimas to let our kid go to Hogwarts they'll be in the same year!"

While this news was obviously thrilling to Charlotte, just the mention of the next twelve years as a parent were enough to make Nadia's face tinge green again.

"How about we don't mention Hogwarts for like another decade?" Nadia suggested a little desperately.

"That's going to be one busy school year," Ally mused with a bit of a smirk, "There will be Malcolm and Nadia's kid, Jilly and Caleb's kid, Stasia and Colton's kid, and Charlotte and Dimas's kid-"

Sandra smirked too, "And of course Vic and Teddy are getting married in two months so they should be able to pop one out before next September."

Victoire rolled her eyes while Charlotte started to jump up and down on her toes at the thought of what Sandra said, "Ohhh!"

"Wow Charlotte, you're really giving Auntie Fleur a run for her money with the excitement over the prospect of Vic and Teddy having a baby," Ally chuckled.

"I'm just happy when my friends are happy," Charlotte insisted so sweetly that everyone had to smile at her.

"I'll drink to that," Anastasia said as she raised her glass of pumpkin juice, "Or I would if I wasn't presently a human incubator."

Charlotte giggled and rubbed her baby-bump, "I love this little peanut, but I will admit that I do miss mimosas at Sunday morning brunch."

"I told Malcolm that he's not allowed to drink in my presence for the next eight months," Nadia chimed in unconcernedly.

Victoire fidgeted with her hands, "It'll be a little longer than eight months if you're planning on breastfeeding."

"_Cazzo_," Nadia swore not-so-quietly, "Well, who wants to break the news to Malcolm?"

"Oh, I do," Victoire said excitedly, even going so far as to raise her hand up in the air.

Sandra tossed an arm across Charlotte's shoulders, "Let's get you a drink."

"Did I hear the word drink?" Dom asked as she slid into the group of women with a smirk on her face.

Victoire glared at her younger sister, "Aren't you supposed to be babysitting Noëlle and Gisèle?"

Dom shrugged, "Alexandrie's girlfriend Stephanie came by and between her and Aurélie they calmed the situation. Steph's getting Gisèle a drink –hopefully to loosen her up– and Noëlle found another one of our cousins that she went to school with and is having an actual polite chat with her. And all of this is making me grateful that I didn't end up attending Beauxbatons with all of them."

"Well since you're younger than all of them you would only have been attending with them for a few years," Victoire reminded her.

Dom rolled her eyes, "Either way, I'm glad that _Maman_ didn't pressure us to go to Beauxbatons like she did. I can only imagine how insane that would have been to go to a school with a bunch of our part-veela second and third cousins. I mean as annoying as some of our Weasley and Potter cousins are, at least they respect and fear me enough to do what I say."

Victoire eyed her sister oddly but forewent informing her that her memory of how respectful their younger cousins were during their Hogwarts years seemed to be tinted by time having passed.

"I'm also really glad that I chose Hogwarts over Beauxbatons, if I hadn't gone to Hogwarts I wouldn't have become such good friends with Xavier, I wouldn't have met Sandra or Kyle, I probably wouldn't have played quidditch at Beauxbatons because Teddy wouldn't have been there to encourage me, I–"

"Wouldn't have met me!" Sandra added since she had been eavesdropping just at the end of the conversation.

Victoire smirked at her best mate, "I already mentioned that."

"I know, I just thought that you didn't seem to emphasize how important that moment was in your life."

"Oh, my bad."

Anastasia popped up beside Sandra, "And let's not forget that if you and Colton hadn't met at Hogwarts and become enemies then you would have never have pushed each other in academics or quidditch. And if you hadn't become enemies, there wouldn't have been any reason for you two to be around each other so much and eventually turn into friends."

"Maybe I should have gone to Beauxbatons then if it would have meant no Colton in my life," Victoire said sarcastically.

Anastasia rolled her eyes but didn't take Victoire's words seriously, she knew that it would figuratively kill Victoire for her to admit that Colton had played even a somewhat important role in her life.

"But if you'd gone to Beauxbatons there would have been no reason for me and Teddy to break up back in our seventh year and _I _might be married to him right now," Charlotte supplied as she played devil's advocate.

Victoire played along and shrugged unconcernedly, "I would have stolen him from you eventually. You can't fight fate or true love."

"T'at's my girl!" Alexandrie said as she joined the group with an armful of shot glasses and a bottle of Firewhiskey, "All is fair in love and war. Especially with someone as _somptueux_ as Teddy."

"But just imagine the road you might have taken to get there," Ally told Victoire with wide eyes.

Dom nodded sagely and held her hand out for Alexandrie to pour her a shot of firewhiskey, "I know, I mean in a world where you're in France during the school year and England during the summer can't you just imagine what you might get up to? I mean think about it, you knew Xavier before Hogwarts so obviously you would have made sure to spend time with him in the summers but without spending every single day together and discovering that you annoy the crap out of each other because you're like siblings, you might have even started fancying the good-looking, very fit, charming quidditch player who didn't figure out what to do with girls until he was halfway through his seventh-year."

Victoire scoffed at Dom's description but both Sandra and Ally started to nod sagely.

"Oh I can definitely see that. If you'd gotten to Xavier back when you lot were sixteen and I was still fifteen, he'd have been a goner and you could have easily spent an entire summer having a fling with him," Ally said as her expression shifted from humorous to frightened as she thought about the imaginary situation, "And if you'd had a summer fling with Xavier_ I_ never would have even thought about going out on a date with him because you're my cousin and your cousins' exes are off limits . . . which means that if you had gone to Beauxbatons not only would Teddy be married to Charlotte right now, but _I_ wouldn't be marrying Xavier."

Ally stopped to take a deep breath and tried to calm herself down, "So . . . thank you _so_ much for not attending Beauxbatons."

"You're welcome," Victoire told her with a sarcastic eye roll, "But I stand by the statement that even in an alternate future where I attended school in France and didn't connect with Teddy right when I did, doesn't automatically mean that I would have started dating Xavier Wood."

During this discussion Alexandrie had started pouring shots of firewhiskey for everyone in the group, and did her best to avoid offering alcohol to the visibly pregnant women around her. Unfortunately, since Nadia was so early in her pregnancy, and still rather fit, Alexandrie offered her a shot without realizing that the woman had a moratorium on alcohol for the next year at least.

Nadia waved off the alcohol and muttered something quietly to Alexandrie about her being pregnant, and then glanced at Victoire, "Wait, in this alternative world would I still be unexpectedly pregnant with stupid Malcolm Wood's baby?"

"Well in this alternative future Malcolm is still Xavier's cousin, Xavier would still be playing quidditch for Puddlemere, you and Xavier would still be teammates, and you probably would have still met Malcolm at some point and still found him smarmy or whatever it is about him that gets you going, so I'm going to say yes. You'd probably still be pregnant with Malcolm's baby right now."

Nadia frowned and then waved her hand, "_Damn_, well carry on anyway."

"There's nothing to carry on about," Victoire complained, "Even in an alternative future I would not have fancied Xavier Wood."

Dom snickered, "Uh huh, sure. You're telling me that you don't find Xavier Wood even the littlest bit attractive? I mean even I would have tried to hit that at some point if Ally hadn't been in the picture."

Charlotte glanced at Ally worriedly, "Doesn't that bother you?"

Ally shrugged, "Not really. She says the same thing about Teddy every other week so it's not exactly personal."

"I'm curious, have you ever thought about Kyle that way?" Sandra asked Dom interestedly.

Before Dom could answer, Victoire rounded on her sister, "I do _not_ find Xavier Wood attractive, I-"

"Be 'onest wit me 'ere Vic," Alexandrie interrupted her as she handed said cousin a shot glass filled with firewhiskey, "I know t'at you're desperately in love with Teddy and all t'at rot. But if you could 'ave any ot'er man wit' no repercussions, 'oo would it be?"

Victoire opened her mouth to say something –most likely that she wasn't going to play along with Alexandrie's games– but before she could a scarily familiar voice directly behind her replied for her.

"My husband."

Victoire spun around and started to stressfully tap her feet on the floor upon seeing the mischievously smirking visage of Katie Wood.

"Well?" Katie asked as she raised an eyebrow at Victoire, "Am I correct?"

"Uh . . ."

"_Excusez-moi_," Alexandrie said politely as she stepped up next to Katie, "'Oo's your 'usband?"

Ally decided to complete the introductions, "Katie this is Alexandrie, she's one of Victoire's cousins. Alexandrie this is Katie Wood. She's Xavier's mother and my soon-to-be mother-in-law."

Alexandrie's face took on a devilish expression as she collected this information, "And why do you t'ink Victoire 'as t'e 'ots for your 'usband?"

"Because she's had a crush on Oliver Wood for longer than she's had a crush on Teddy," Sandra supplied with an equally devious look on her face.

Victoire's face was red, "That's not true-"

"Yes it is," Dom and Ally said at the same time.

Victoire tried to put on a nonchalant expression, "So I might have fancied Oliver when I was like six-"

"Through to age ten," Ally interrupted.

"So when I was a child-" Victoire insisted.

Dom snickered, "And when you were thirteen, and fourteen, and fifteen-"

"A silly teenage crush," Victoire asserted.

"I caught you practically drooling over him at Ally and Xavier's engagement party last year," Sandra added with a raised eyebrow.

Victoire spluttered a little and threw her hands up in the air, "He was wearing a navy suit. Of course I'm going to look twice at Oliver Wood in a trim navy suit."

"He did look _really_ good that night," Katie aided Victoire in her defense.

Alexandrie had started to rub her fingers across her chin as if she was stroking an imaginary goatee, "And Katie, would you say t'at your 'usband and your son look alike?"

Katie nodded vehemently, "If I didn't have the stretch marks that proved that I carried Xavier for nine bloody months you'd think Xavier was Oliver's clone."

"Really?"

Sandra, Dom, Ally, and even Nadia and Anastasia started nodding, "There is most definitely a strong family resemblance."

Alexandrie then looked Victoire in the eyes, "And you were trying to convince me a few minutes ago t'at you don't find Xavier Wood attractive w'en you've got t'e 'ots for 'is fat'er?"

"Just because Xavier looks like his father doesn't mean that they're the same-"

Katie scoffed loudly, "Xavier is so much like Oliver that I want to hit him upside the head sometimes when he makes the exact same mistakes that Oliver did at the same age."

"You're not helping Katie," Victoire informed the older woman as politely as she could.

Katie snickered, "You're lucky that my husband's as oblivious to female attention as he's always been or I wouldn't let a young, smart, part-veela like you anywhere near him Vic."

Alexandrie, Dom, and Sandra all started to laugh at Victoire's expense.

"I just like to look at him sometimes okay?" Victoire grumbled embarrassedly as she finally admitted it in the hopes that all of her friends would finally lay off of her.

"Well I for one don't blame you," Anastasia said coming to Victoire's defense.

Katie smirked, "Me neither." She patted Victoire on the shoulder and decided that she had injected enough chaos into the atmosphere and went off to find Angelina or Audrey.

"Well t'ere is our proof t'at our alternative t'eory was correct," Alexandrie said puckishly.

"I have never felt physically attracted to Xavier Wood," Victoire enunciated loudly and clearly for everyone who was left to hear.

Nadia pursed her lips at Victoire, "But you fancy Oliver Wood?"

"Hey, you're currently impregnated by a male Wood of your own so I wouldn't cast stones if I were you," Victoire pointed out.

Nadia rolled her eyes, "At least there isn't a twenty-four year age gap between me and my Wood."

"Let's not kink shame 'ere . . . maybe Victoire 'as a daddy t'ing," Alexandrie tried to defend her cousin.

Victoire pinched the bridge of her nose, "You're _not _helping."

"If you'd just admit that you find Xavier the least bit attractive then this would all stop," Sandra told her best mate.

"But I don't!"

Dom sighed, "I can solve this." She then took the bottle of firewhiskey and shot glasses from Alexandrie and filled one up for Ally and Sandra before shoving them into their hands. She made sure that Victoire's glass, Alexandrie's glass, and her own glass were still filled, and then she conjured water into three other shots glasses and handed them to Nadia, Anastasia, and Charlotte.

"Alright, we're playing 'Never have I ever'. If you've done it you have to take a shot. I'll start, 'Never have I ever seen Xavier Wood naked'."

Ally took her shot immediately while Victoire stared her sister down and glared at her. She mouthed the words 'I hate you' at Dom before knocking back the alcohol and glowering at all of the women who were suddenly looking at her with shocked expressions.

"Why 'ave you seen Xavier naked?" Alexandrie asked the question everybody else was dying to hear.

Before Victoire could reply, Nadia intervened and tried to help, "Was this when you were interning for med school at Puddlemere and you healed his pulled groin?"

"No," Victoire admitted with a pout, "It was back in fourth year at Hogwarts."

Nadia glanced at Ally, "So she saw Xavier naked before you ever did?"

"Yup."

"Why?"

"It was an accident and it was in the quidditch locker rooms," Victoire tried to explain.

Nadia raised an eyebrow at her, "I've played quidditch with Xavier for six years and _I've_ never accidently seen him naked in the locker room. Clark Westin however, is a completely different story."

"Well if you really want to know the truth it was Malcolm's fault," Victoire complained as if Nadia could have had control over her boyfriend's actions from a decade ago.

"Malcolm and accidental nudity in the same situation? Colour me shocked," Nadia announced with a heavy exhale.

"How come I've never heard about this?" Sandra asked a little offended.

Victoire grabbed the bottle of firewhiskey from Dom, refilled her glass, downed the second shot and then explained, "I was trying to find Teddy so that I could tell him that I had decided to take up his offer to play seeker on the Gryffindor quidditch team. I found Malcolm first and asked him where I could find his best mate, which was my first mistake. Malcolm told me that Teddy had gone for an extra practice run and that he was in the changing rooms doing his cool down stretches and making sure that everything would be ready for the game the next day. So I went to the locker rooms. I will have you know that I did knock on the door, but that apparently whoever was inside couldn't hear me because the shower was on. I pushed the door open and walked into the room to find Xavier Wood naked and just having come out of the shower."

"Wait," Alexandrie requested as she pulled her wand out and summoned a bowl of chips towards her. She shoved some in her mouth and then gestured to Victoire with her hand, "I've got snacks now. You can keep going."

"There's nothing else to tell. I got a split second look at him before turning my back on him and letting out a screeching sound. Xavier summoned the closest piece of clothing to him and let out a very high-pitched scream. We embarrassedly talked over each other for a few seconds before I yelled out an apology and ran out of the locker room," Victoire said, physically flinching as she thought back to the embarrassing memory.

Anastasia reached across Dom and grabbed a handful of chips from the bowl Alexandrie was eating from, "Tell me there's more to the story."

Victoire looked perplexedly at Anastasia's enthusiasm before continuing, "So Xavier found me once he'd put some clothes on and without looking each other in the eyes we promised never to talk about the incident ever again. It was going to stay between me, him, Teddy, and bloody Malcolm after I finished hexing him into a pile of goo for arranging the incident."

"Wait," Sandra interrupted, "Teddy was there too?"

"Well he was in the team room that was attached to the boy's locker room at the time and heard our screaming. He came running into the room just as I backed out of it."

Dom joined Alexandrie and Anastasia in their snacking, "And was he also naked?"

"No-"

"Well that's not how this fantasy's supposed to go," Dom grumbled, "Was he at least in some state of undress?"

Victoire pinched the bridge of her nose, "Well he _had _taken his shirt off because he was sweaty and hadn't put a new one on yet-"

"I can work with that," Dom said with a point of her finger.

"Me too," Alexandrie announced with a devilish smirk.

Anastasia giggled, "Same."

"And you'd mentioned something about Xavier having just come out of the shower . . . had he fully dried off yet?" Dom enquired after sipping some more firewhiskey.

Victoire scowled at her younger sister, "He was fourteen at the time Dom."

"Yeah well when he was fourteen I was twelve. Besides, I'm not imagining him as fourteen in this scenario."

"And exactly 'ow sweaty was Teddy?" Alexandrie asked, she seemed as if she was seconds away from conjuring up a pen and paper to write everything down.

Victoire groaned, "There's something seriously wrong with you right now."

"No, there's something seriously wrong with you if the idea of a naked Xavier _and _a partially clothed Teddy doesn't do it for you," Dom told her without shame.

Victoire looked at Ally for help, "You can't tell me that you're alright with this."

"As the person who has seen Xavier naked most recently, I can't really blame other people for thinking he's fit," Ally reasoned level-headedly.

"And he _is_ fit," Anastasia agreed with a nod of her head.

Everyone turned to look at Anastasia with shock.

"What? It's a pregnancy hormone thing," Anastasia explained with a casual shrug.

Charlotte nodded, "I can confirm."

"Really?" Nadia asked inquisitively.

"Yeah, once the nausea and breast tenderness goes away," Charlotte explained openly.

Nadia tapped her fingernails against her water-filled shot glass, "What about the mood swings?"

"Oh, I haven't had any," Charlotte announced happily.

"Me either," Anastasia added.

Nadia scowled, "I hate you both. Where's Jilly? She'll commiserate with me."

"She's over there talking to Sarah and Cassidy," Ally pointed out helpfully as she gestured to the trio of women standing sitting on a couch near the empty marble fireplace.

"Oh, invite them over. We'll play more 'Never have I ever' once we get Victoire to admit that she thinks Xavier's sexy," Dom said with a wide grin.

Victoire rolled her eyes, "That's not going to happen."

"Will you at least admit that you think that Oliver's sexy?" Sandra asked.

Victoire pouted and crossed her arms over her chest, "Fine. I can do that."

"And then separately admit that Xavier looks like his father?"

"If it will stop all of this talk about a naked fourteen-year-old Xavier . . . fine. Xavier looks a bit like his father. In their colouring," Victoire said slowly.

Dom scoffed, "It's like pulling teeth with her."

"Well this has been fun, but I think I'll go spend some time with people who aren't obsessed with talking about attractive men," Victoire said handing Dom back her empty shot glass.

Alexandrie raised an eyebrow, "In a room full of part-veelas? Good luck."

"Fine, I'll just go join Lily and Émilie at the dessert table," Victoire grumbled.

She was trying to sound put out, but the idea of dessert was really starting to sound good to her, so she and Anastasia –who was also suddenly craving something sweet– left for the dessert table while Sandra, Ally, and Charlotte started to discuss the business Sandra and Charlotte's husband were working on together. Nadia did leave to find Jilly so that they could commiserate about unwanted pregnancy symptoms together, which unfortunately left Dom and Alexandrie together to do firewhiskey shots and get into some new sort of mischief.

* * *

**A/N:** I had a lot of fun writing this chapter, which is why it took so long to write because I wanted to get it correct. I hope you enjoyed it and the little silly moments between the girls.

Let me know what your favourite part of this chapter was!

**Next Update:** Good news! Since this chapter took so long and I had to split the day it covers into three chapters in total, the next chapter is already finished. I will update in exactly two weeks, once I give all of the readers a chance to catch up with it.

**Next Chapter:** We get a look at what some of the boys are doing back in England with the girls gone in France, James gets some extra practice from the surprise coach Cecilia has arranged for him, and then a bit more of the bridal shower in France where Victoire learns something very interesting.

Also, I'm taking a poll, so let me know in a review who you think Cecilia has arranged to teach James how to be a centre chaser!

I want to thank everyone who has followed, favourited, read, and especially reviewed this story.

Biggest thank yous to:

**Guest (1), Dthea33, LilyGinnyLunaMcGonagall, Break This Spell626, B. arendes, audrey3horses, ASlytherinGal, CookieCreme13, carbo21, no cure for crazy, Guest (2), Dakota1, zvc56, zalavi0309, selenao, Sozin's Flame, Jily71102, **and **Guest (3)**.

**Dthea33**: We will see Katie and Cecilia having a convo about Cecilia moving out in a bit.

**LilyGinnyLunaMcGonagall**: We shall see next week who Cecilia picked for James, so let me know your final guess in a review.

**Break This Spell626**: Don't worry, Vic won't let the mystery of the wolfsbane issue go by without sticking her nose into its business.

**audrey3horses**: There might be a bit more of Draco later because he is Scorpius's father, but unfortunately there won't be a lot of him.

**ASlytherinGal**: Thank you so much for the lovely long review! I'm glad you like these stories, welcome to my wizarding world and I hope you enjoy the ride. I definitely still have lots of ideas to keep writing at least a few more stories after this one is done, but it all depends on my time and what the future holds for me. I can promise that if these stories end it won't be because I've run out of ideas. I'm glad that you think I've avoided sugar-coating and stereotyping, I've consciously strived to avoid those things so I'm glad that it's working in practice.

**CookieCreme13**: Well thank you for the review and for following along! Motivation is hard to come by sometimes, for me it usually comes in waves where I'll write half a chapter in one day, and then struggle to with the other half for maybe another week. It also depends on the specific scenes I'm writing, sometimes the words flow, and other times it's hard to drudge them up. If I have the inclination and the time available I can probably do an average of about 2000 words in four hours as long as myself, or my fingers, know where the story is going. To answer your other questions: 1. The Holmwoods are so far reaching that it probably wouldn't be a shock if they did show up in some respect in every story I write. It was intentional for their connection in the last story to feel a little incomplete, even though at the beginning Teddy and the gang were able to put away LaChappelle the Holmwood crime family was still able to carry on most daily activities without too much being affected. That's what happens in such a wide-reaching organization. 2. I don't know if I'm quite up to writing a lemon yet just because if I did I'd have to change the rating of the entire story to M because I might as well go big or go home, so it's something I've runimated on but I need to decide if I could reason it out for the entire story. 3. We will definitely see more of these couples as time goes on, especially since they're both going to have babies, but they need to share screen time with a lot of characters so it may not be as quickly as you'd like. Don't worry about your grammar, its commendable that you can write in two languages to my basic one.

**carbo21**: I'm glad for the coincidence!

**no cure for crazy**: Thank you for the lovely long review! I'm glad that you find the process for getting the spell approved interesting. I wouldn't have been able to just say 'they got it approved, it's done' and then left it at that. I would have needed more detail.

**Dakota1**: Cecilia's mentioned before that she thinks Baxter's attractive, since Louis was making her breakfast without a shirt she would have been perfectly content to have two men without shirts on surrounding her while she ate breakfast. She's a little cheeky. that being said, she wouldn't have wanted Louis to get jealous when he was making her breakfast.

**zvc56**: Thank you :)

**Zalavi0309**: Sometimes a cigar's a cigar . . . and sometimes Greek food is foreshadowing. We'll find out next update, let me know your final guess before then!

**Sozin's flame**: Is that your final guess? We find out next chapter!

**I hope everyone enjoyed this chap,**

**Please let me know in a review who you think will be James coach in the next update,**

**Leave me any questions or concerns you have in a PM or review,**

**I will be updating in two weeks, so until then,**

**DFTBA!**


	12. Practice, Card Games, and Secrets

**A/N:** Hello everyone here's the next chapter updated as promised! This takes place in the same day as the bridal shower from last chapter. Most of the chapter occurs in England with the last third in France but the sections are pretty easy to pick out.

Many of you left your suggestions in the last chapters reviews about who will be James's new quidditch trainer. The suggestions put forth were Gwenog Jones, Selene Spiros, and even Valentin Krum was suggested (a really creative guess by the way). Most people thought it might be Selene. Start the chapter down below and you will find out very soon who was right.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own _Harry Potter._

* * *

**Practice, Card Games, and Secrets**

**Sunday, April 28th 2024**

**1:25 PM**

James Potter was lazily flying his broom around the full-sized regulation quidditch pitch in the backyard of his parents' home. His Firebolt was cruising about as slowly as it could go and he was only a few feet off the ground, nowhere near as high up as he'd need to be to properly reach the tall quidditch hoops. His state-of-the-art practice quaffle was sitting on the green grass directly below him and he stared at it idly while he waited for the hands on his watch to hit one-thirty.

Cecilia Wood had pulled through with her promise to arrange for someone to help coach him on how to properly play centre chaser. However, since she was in France at Victoire's bridal shower along with all of the other female members of his family, Cecilia had organized for Louis to bring his new 'trainer' to James's parents' house where they could practice that afternoon.

As James glanced back to his watch he heard a loud _popping_ sound that signalled that someone had apparated just at the edge of the magical boundaries of his parents' backyard. His broom angled down towards the grass, only needing the barest of direction from him, and he had touched down onto the ground just as he saw a pair of figures walking towards him in the distance. James carried his broom with him as he walked towards the pair with the intention of meeting them halfway, but he stopped in his tracks the moment they had gotten within a distance that made it easy for him to recognize the person Louis had brought with him.

James's heart started to beat anxiously within his chest cavity and he had to readjust the grip of his left hand on the shaft of his broomstick because he could feel his palms starting to sweat for no apparent reason. The pair spotted him just a few seconds after he did, and Louis raised his hand above his head to wave at his cousin while the slim figure next to him kept her grip on her own broomstick and offered James a friendly smile at that distance instead.

The eldest Potter child swallowed thickly as Louis got closer to him, the dark haired woman with him only a few steps behind the part-veela, and James plastered what he hoped was a welcoming expression on his face as the two came to a stop an appropriate distance from him.

"Hey James, good weather for some practice huh?" Louis asked in his normally jovially tone.

"Uh –yeah– yes, yes the weather is very nice," James replied a little dumbly. He'd made the mistake of glancing at the dark haired woman's face and his train of thought had stopped momentarily.

From beside Louis, Selene Spiros unobtrusively adjusted her loose grip on her own broomstick and met James's enigmatic gaze, "Hi James."

"Hi Selene," James replied, cringing as soon as the words had escaped his mouth because his voice had cracked at the beginning of her name.

He pushed his fingers through his hair awkwardly to try to cover for his voice crack, and his mind wandered back to the conversation he had with Cecilia about her finding an extracurricular trainer for him, "So, uh, you're the person Cecilia found to coach me? To teach me how to properly play centre chaser outside of regular team practice and all of that because you don't have a life?"

The words spilled out of his mouth before he could stop them and he visibly cringed again when he realized that even though he meant to paraphrase Cecilia's words, he'd accidentally ended up repeating the part about her not having a life.

"Shi–I mean sorry. I mean I didn't mean to say what I said-"

Louis reached out to clap James on the shoulder, "Quit before you dig yourself a deeper hole there mate."

James listened to his advice and clapped his mouth shut with one hand while the other dropped his broomstick and immediately went to stressfully push back his dark fringe.

Selene watched the entire scene, including Louis's intervention, with an inscrutable look on her face. The only emotion she gave away was the slight raising of her dark eyebrows above her grey eyes, and a slight quirk at the left side of her lips that made it seem as though she was holding back a smile.

As James looked at her with dread in his eyes, she met his gaze and suddenly her expression wasn't as indecipherable as before. Her pearly grey eyes softened and she allowed her lips to turn up into an amused smile, "Cecilia told me that you're garbage at catching across your midline and that if you don't improve soon you're going to cause Nadia Cassano to go into early labour. The latter half of her explanation didn't make much sense to me because I'd just read the article about Cassano being pregnant and saw the she's only like six weeks along, but it's not the it's first time I've ever heard Cecilia abuse hyperbole."

"Yeah, uh, Cecilia does like to exaggerate sometimes," James said dully as he was still rather embarrassed about uttering the 'not having a life' thing.

Selene sent James a smirk that made his insides twist, "So you're not totally rubbish at catching across your midline?"

"No, _that_ she was completely honest about," James recovered and said in a tone that was so charming and smooth that it even surprised himself.

She chuckled and the sound made his chest feel warm and his brain a little fuzzier than before, "Well then we've got a lot of work to do."

James's mind had got caught on the word 'we' and it ran on a loop in his head in her sweet voice, hindering him from properly replying to her comment.

Luckily, Louis had enough suave and charm for the both of them and he did his best to try to cover for his cousin's lapses in politeness, "Since you've got your work cut out for you with James's garbage catching across his midline and his shite aim with his non-dominant throwing arm, I guess I should just let you lot get to it then."

Despite Louis's further dig at James's quidditch abilities, he appreciated Louis trying to smooth things over. Unfortunately he instantly regretted his cousin's politeness when he realized that said cousin was actually about to leave him alone with his new quidditch trainer, whom he'd already insulted within the first five minutes. Selene thanked Louis for side-along apparating her to James's and then Louis's tall form loped off so quickly that he was out of their sight within a few seconds. The loud _crack_ of his disapparating signaled that he had disappeared, and then James was well and truly left alone with his old quidditch teammate.

Selene turned to look back at James and gave him a smile that was slightly shier than the one she'd given him when Louis was still around, "So I guess the first thing I should do is congratulate you on getting bumped up to Puddlemere's first string team."

James felt his ears go warm but he couldn't help but smile at the excited and laudatory tone she used. He –only slightly awkwardly– thanked her before he noticed that she was slowly reaching towards him to give him, what he assumed was going to be, a congratulatory embrace. Even though he felt his face go as red as his ears must have been, he met Selene halfway in the hug and seconds later he had her lithe body wrapped in his arms; with hers squeezing him around the neck. His mind went blank as he felt the soft pressure of her curves press against his body, which meant that he heard her next words very clearly.

"Obviously Puddlemere knows that you've got enormous skill and potential. I'm really proud of you James," Her voice told him gently. Since her head was right next to his, he imagined that he could practically feel the soft whisper of her lips next to his ear when she murmured her congratulations to him.

After she said the words her arms tightened infinitesimally around his neck. He squeezed her tightly in response, one arm wrapped around her waist while the other moved slightly to rest on the middle of her back. James's body froze in surprise when he realized that the palm of his hand that was at the middle of her back was touching bare skin, while the very tips of his fingers were touching what felt like the firm band of a sports bra.

Selene pulled away from the hug only a few seconds later and she avoided his gaze as she turned slightly to pick her broomstick up off the ground as she had set it down just before giving James the hug. As she moved, James inspected her back and noticed that the long-sleeved grey workout shirt she was wearing –which upon first glance from the front seemed both practical and conservative– had a long slit down the back for air ventilation which also made the scarlet fabric of the back of her sports bra rather visible. He blinked and swallowed thickly upon seeing the smooth skin and taut muscles of her back, but had the presence of mind to finally respond to her when she met his gaze after having picked up her broom.

"Thanks, and thank-you so much for coming here to help me. I know I said something really stupid about you not having a life and I'm really sorry about it-"

Selene waved off his apologies, "It's fine James, really. Cecilia already mentioned that my not having a life outside of quidditch practice would come in handy with helping you become a proper center chaser, so it's not like you were the first person to mention it."

"Oh I know that you have a life outside of quidditch. I mean the last time I saw you, you were at a club with your best friends," James reminded her as he too picked up his broom.

She looked down at her feet awkwardly, "Yeah, well Teagan only convinced me to come out because she used a mix of begging and emotional blackmail, so it's not like me going out clubbing is a common occurrence."

"Me either," James blurted suddenly so that he could impress upon her that he was taking being a professional quidditch player just as seriously as she was, "I only really went because Freddie thought it'd be a good place to find dates for Victoire and Teddy's wedding. Which it wasn't, by the way, in case you were wondering."

Selene looked back up at him and quirked a dark eyebrow "You're telling me that you didn't meet any nice, wedding-date appropriate girls at the club?"

"Just you, Jordan, and Teag-" James cut himself off as he consider his own words, "Just you and Jordan."

He expected her to laugh at her words, but instead she started to fidget with the shaft of the broomstick in her hands, "Well I could always set you up with Jordan then."

"I don't exactly think Jordan and I would be very compatible," James said quickly, his memories of Jordan's previous harsh glares and harsher words towards him slowly turning the blood pumping through his heart into ice.

Selene shrugged her shoulders and continued to avoid eye-contact with him as she continued to absentmindedly inspect the shaft of her broom, "Oh I think you might have more in common with her than you think."

"I think the only thing I have in common with Jordan Simpson is you," James blurted out without really thinking through his words first.

His candour was enough to get her to stop her previously thorough broomstick inspection and ended with her finally glancing back up at his face. She made such piercing eye contact with him that it made both his heart and his next words stutter.

"I –I– What I meant to say was that the only thing I have in common with Jordan is that we're both friends with you."

She smiled prettily at him, "What else would you need to have in common? Discussing your love for me should be enough to keep the two of you busy through at least one wedding date."

He knew that she was just teasing him and that she'd been going for a jovially joking tone, but his brain had heard the word 'love' and had gotten stuck on it.

"Love?"

Apparently the word was all his mouth could come up with too.

Selene's fingers started to fidget with her broomstick again but she didn't break eye-contact with him like before, "Yeah, in a friendly way. You know, like affection. That's probably the word I should have used actually. You and Jordan can discuss your shared friendship and affection for me on your date."

"I am not going on a date with Jordan Simpson," James replied with an eye roll and a level of nonchalance that he was secretly surprised he was able to muster up.

She shrugged again, "That's alright. I don't even actually know if you're Jordan's type. The specific type of men she's interested in is hard to pin down."

"She'd definitely get bored of me talking about nothing but quidditch," James said as he played along.

Selene nodded slowly, "She just doesn't appreciate quidditch like she should."

"Speaking of, are you ready to get started? According to Nadia Cassano I have a lot of work to do," James nodded in the direction of the quidditch pitch and the both of them began walking towards it.

As they walked there was a pep in Selene's step that made her long ponytail bounce around as she strode beside him, "Not many people appreciate how difficult it is to learn a different position. Even between chasing positions it's difficult. Not only do you have to practice how to catch and throw in a way that is sometimes counter-intuitive to how you're used to playing, but you also have to change how you _think_ about playing. It's mental just as much as it is physical."

"So what are we going to start with today? Mental or physical?" James asked easily as he glanced at her.

She met his gaze and his blood starting pounding through his ears when she announced, "Physical."

His mouth was suddenly dry and it was a good thing she had continued her explanation because he didn't think he'd be able to reply vocally.

"Since you're going to start playing in Cassano's position right away you'll have to get your fundamentals down first. Or as Louis and Cecilia both so eloquently explained it, we have to make you less shite at playing on your non-dominant side," Selene said with a playful smirk.

James nodded sagely and pretended to be surprised, "Oh, so that's why Cecilia asked you, a professional second-string center chaser for the Holyhead Harpies, to teach me the fundamentals of playing the positon of center chaser. It's all making _so_ much more sense now."

She giggled and the sound warmed his insides again, "Look at you, cute _and_ smart."

James stopped in his tracks and the words were out of his mouth before he could stop them, "You think I'm cute?"

"Actually according to Teagan I'm so obsessed with quidditch that I wouldn't even recognize a cute bloke even if he walked up to me and told me he desperately needed me in his life. Coincidentally after she said it one Saturday afternoon back in seventh-year, you walked up to me a few minutes later and told me you'd really appreciate my help setting up for quidditch practice that evening. After you left she decided that I was completely hopeless and decided to helpfully point out to me that you are cute."

James felt the hippogriffs in his stomach start to fly around, "So you only said I was cute because Teagan told you I was?"

"No, I said that she was the first person who thought it was imperative to forcefully bring this fact to my attention. I realized on my own that you were cute back in second year when I stumbled upon you and Al having a brother-to-brother chat after the first week of school in the Gryffindor common room. He was homesick and you were very sweetly telling him that it was okay to miss your parents, that it didn't make him a baby or childish, and that you'd always be there for him if he needed you."

James remembered the situation perfectly but he was surprised to hear that Selene had witnessed the incident let alone that she could recall it in such vivid detail, "You heard that?"

Selene nodded her head and reached out to grab James's free hand. She squeezed it tightly, "_Mmmhmm_, you were terribly gentle and kind about the whole thing. It was cute . . . and I thought you were cute."

He stood there stunned into silence, the warmth from her hand in his the only thing keeping his mind grounded in the present.

Too soon she pulled her hand away, cleared her throat, and then announced that the first thing they were going to do for training was to run a few warm-up laps. She dropped her broom, started to count down from three, winked mischievously at him, and then started sprinting ahead of him before she got to number one. He stared after her in a shocked daze before he realized that she had cheated and that she was presently beating him.

James dropped his broomstick and hastily took off into a run. He had to push much harder out the get-go than he usually did when he knew he had to run a long distance, just so that he could catch up to her. When he did she was breathlessly giggling at his expense. It was such an adorable look on her that he couldn't help but join her in her laughter as they ran.

* * *

**1:47 PM**

Teddy Lupin pursed his lips as he considered the collection of cards he held in his right hand while the fingers on his left hand drummed against the solid wood of Xavier Wood's dining room table. He glanced at the face of the person sitting across the table from him, but when he realized that the other guy's face was unreadably inscrutable, Teddy looked back down at his cards and tried to decide which one he wanted to play.

"Hurry up already!" Xavier complained as he set down his own hand of cards and reached for a pretzel from the bowl next to his elbow.

Teddy ignored his rushing, "_Shhh_, I'm strategizing."

Next to Teddy, Oliver Wood let out a warm chuckle and took a sip from his tumbler of scotch as he shook his head at the argument the two younger men were having.

"It really shouldn't be taking this long," George Weasley commented from his spot next to Oliver, he was always up for fanning the flames of even the smallest of disputes.

Sat diagonally across the table from Teddy was Freddie Weasley, and he seemed much more interested in trying to finish eating an absolutely monstrous submarine sandwich that he'd made himself for lunch, which he made instead of choosing to make a much more reasonably sized sandwich like all of the other men at the table, than to try to pay attention to the card game that was presently going on around him.

"Just one more second," Teddy requested to the group of men who were getting antsy waiting for him to make his play. He placed his hand above the card he thought it was best to go with, but he wanted the time to make sure that it would be the right play.

Just as Teddy was finally about to make his decision, Malcolm Wood walked back into the room and asked Teddy if he wanted a refill on his drink. All the other people at the table groaned loudly at the distraction, but Teddy rolled his eyes at them and told Malcolm he'd take another butterbeer. Malcolm was back a few seconds later with a butterbeer for Teddy and another lager from himself. He sat back down in his empty seat on the other side of Teddy and made a comment about how he was surprised that Teddy hadn't made a move yet when he'd been gone for five minutes at least.

"Well if it will get you lot off my back, here it is," Teddy complained as he made eye contact with the person across from him, "Got any sixes?"

Five-year-old Brogan Wood looked at his cards intently before glancing back up at Teddy with a smug smile, "Nope. Go fish."

Teddy pouted and pretended to be put out, his actions succeeding in making Brogan giggle, and then he made a show of picking up a new card.

"Your turn Daddy," Brogan instructed Oliver once Teddy had finally picked up his new card.

Oliver smirked smugly, the expression eerily similar to the one that had been on his youngest son's face a few seconds previously, and glanced at Teddy, "Give me your six."

Teddy's sigh was real this time as he pulled out his six of hearts and handed it over to Oliver.

"George's turn!" Brogan dictated excitedly as he reached for the snack bowl between him and Xavier and grabbed a handful of fish-shaped cheese crackers.

George looked at his own hand for only a split second before turning his head so that he could look down the table at Baxter, "Got any Morgan le Fay's?"

Baxter glanced at his cards, which were a mix of a normal deck and a stack of famous wizard cards from chocolate frog packages, and then back at his uncle, "Go fish."

George picked up another famous wizard card from the stack at Oliver's elbow, took a sip from his bottle of butterbeer, and then addressed his son-in-law to be, "Alright, Xavier it's your turn."

Before Xavier had the chance to play, there was a small interruption in the shape of Louis arriving along with a large pastry box that had the name of a certain Diagon Alley bakery embossed in fancy writing on the side.

"I brought donuts!" Louis announced in an airy tone as he stepped up to the table and sat down in the empty chair next to Baxter.

Baxter eyed his cousin and best mate, "Well that explains your tardiness at least."

Louis raised an eyebrow at him and then grinned mischievously, "Oh, Lia says 'hi' by the way."

Baxter's ears went red and he glared at Louis for what his roommate had just unleashed.

"Who's Lia?" George's voice asked nosily from the other end of the table.

"No one," Baxter enunciated firmly as he continued to glare at Louis.

Freddie reached for the box of gourmet donuts and opened it up, "So get James all situated then?"

"Yup, didn't take too long," Louis said with a nod.

"Where is James?" Xavier asked curiously, "You did invite him to hang out today, right?"

When Brogan Wood had found out on Saturday about Victoire's bridal shower in France the next day he had gotten very excited and had started jumping around Katie and Oliver's home cheering about how eager he was to go to Vic's party. Katie, being the more disciplinary parent of the two of them, had to be the one to break it to her poor besotted five-year-old that he wasn't invited to the party in France because it was a party just for girls. Brogan's happy face immediately slipped into the biggest pout the pair of parents had ever seen on any of their children's faces. He pouted so terribly adorably that he almost had Oliver ready to champion his case against Katie, which Oliver would have done if Xavier hadn't interrupted and suggested that they have a boys day at his and Ally's house while all the girls went to France. Xavier had promised his little brother snacks, sweets, sugary drinks, a few rounds of his favourite game of the moment (Go Fish with two card decks and famous wizard cards), and some manly bonding.

Even on short notice Xavier had scrapped up participation from Teddy, Malcolm, and Louis –knowing that all of their girlfriends would be busy in France– along with his future father-in-law and brother-in-law, and Baxter who Xavier knew didn't work on Sundays. He figured that they along with himself, his father, and Brogan would round out a guys day pretty well.

"Yeah I gave him the invite, he already had plans for today though," Freddie clarified.

Oliver quirked an eyebrow as they discussed his team's newest starting chaser, "Doing what?"

"Cecilia set him up on a date with a fit brunette who's going to help teach him how to properly play the position of centre chaser," Louis explained as he handed Teddy the donut with the most chocolate on it.

Malcolm looked at Louis confusedly, "Nadia?"

Xavier gave his cousin a disbelieving look, "She's in France right now you plank."

"Although it's super sweet that you heard the words 'fit brunette' and automatically thought of her," Teddy told his best mate as he clapped him on the shoulder.

"So who did Cecilia set James up with to train him?" Oliver enquired.

"Selene Spiros," Louis said as he pushed the box of donuts down the table so that the others could reach them.

Oliver nodded his head approvingly, "She's the Harpies reserve centre chaser right? You guys played with her at Hogwarts didn't you?"

Freddie nodded his head, "Yeah, Selene played on the Gryffindor team with James and I at Hogwarts."

"Is she any good?" Malcolm asked curiously.

Freddie shrugged while Xavier and Oliver nodded their heads.

"Puddlemere was actually looking into recruiting her last year before she graduated, but Coach Bissinette convinced us that he'd get Hawthorne into perfect playing shape for this season and that we didn't need to put the effort into trading him and recruiting her," Oliver supplied.

Xavier, who was helping Brogan pick out a donut from the box, added his own two sickles worth in, "Considering how brilliantly she's played for the Harpies every time they've called her up this season, you might be regretting that decision to listen to Bissinette. Selene's a very consistent player and a hard worker."

"Well if I'd know that _someone_ was going to knock-up our star centre chaser I might have given more consideration to recruiting her," Oliver said, looking pointedly at Malcolm during the part of his statement that directly referred to him.

Malcolm glared at his uncle and godfather, "Did you get this much flak from your teammates back when _you_ knocked up your team's star centre chaser?"

"Trust me, it was much worse," Oliver muttered darkly as he remembered the ribbing his teammates had given him when he impregnated Katie the first time.

Xavier rolled his eyes at his father, "I'm not going to apologize for being born."

"I'm not asking you to. I take total responsibility for-" Oliver paused here and glanced at his youngest son. Brogan didn't seem to be paying too much attention to the conversation, he was much more interested with liking the icing from his donut off his fingers, but Oliver was still careful about how he worded the rest of his sentence, "For not having a clear discussion with Katie about protection beforehand."

"Yeah, that's a lesson I could have used about seven weeks ago," Malcolm said with a heavy sigh.

Teddy patted Malcolm on the back comfortingly, "Get over it. I happened, it's done with, and now you're going to be a father in less than nine months."

"Yay!" Brogan said excitedly as he clapped his hands together, "I'm gonna be an uncle!"

Oliver's lips twitched and he chuckled at his son, "No Bro, we talked about this yesterday. Malcolm's baby will be your _cousin_. Like how Duncan's son Callum is your cousin."

Brogan pouted, "When do I get to be an uncle?"

"When Ally and Xavier have a baby," Freddie explained helpfully before his face took on a musing expression, "Or I guess if Cecilia and Lou-"

Before Freddie could finish saying whatever he was going to say to embarrass Louis in front of his girlfriend's father, Louis grabbed a handful of pretzels and chucked them at Freddie's face to stop his words.

"Freddie!"

Freddie frowned and pulled a pretzel out of his hair, "Fine, when Ally and Xavier have a baby then."

"When are you going to have a baby?" Brogan asked Xavier curiously.

"Yeah Xavier," George repeated with a wicked grin, "When are you going to have a baby?"

Xavier avoided eye-contact with his father-in-law to be, "Whenever Ally and I decide that we're ready."

"Good answer," Oliver said with a wink.

Brogan turned his piercing glance to Teddy, "When are you going to have a baby Teddy?"

"Well, Vic and I are getting married in two months and it takes a baby nine months to grow, so probably in eleven months," Teddy replied calmly, knowing that his math was probably a little too much for Brogan to grasp at the moment.

George snorted with amusement, "Yeah, Fleur's counting down the days on a calendar."

"Until the wedding?" Malcolm asked.

"No," Louis replied with a sad shake of his head, "Until she gets a grandchild out of Vic."

Oliver frowned, "Isn't that a little bit obsessive?"

"Dom and I are just glad that her obsession with Vic giving her a grandchild right now will be enough to allow us to fly under that particular radar for _several_ years," Louis muttered.

Oliver also seemed relieved to hear that his daughter's boyfriend didn't have any current intentions to impregnate her, "That's something at least."

"My turn!" Brogan announced excitedly once he'd decided that he had gotten bored of the grown-up talk. Once he'd found out that he'd have to wait a while to become an uncle he didn't have much attention span left to follow the rest of the conversation.

Even though it was technically Xavier's turn (they'd already skipped over Freddie because he had been occupied with his ridiculous sandwich), they allowed Brogan to play so that they could at least keep the game going.

Brogan's little face took on a very serious expression as he considered the cards in his hand, and when he began muttering under his breath Xavier surreptitiously looked over to his brother's hand of cards in case he ended up needing some help to make his play. Brogan muttered something else under his breath that was unintelligible to everyone but him, and then he nodded to himself. He glanced at Louis, who had just been dealt a hand of cards by Teddy so that he could join the round.

"Got any Dumberdores?"

"It's Dum-ble-dor," Xavier enunciated slowly for Brogan, "And you don't have one."

Brogan frowned at his big brother, "Yes I do."

Xavier glanced back at Brogan's cards, "No you don't."

"Yes I do."

"No you don't Bro-"

"There!" Brogan said pointing to the card that was at the very edge of his hand.

Xavier inspected the card he was gesturing to, "That's not Dumbledore Brogan. That card's the king of spades."

"But he's got a beard," Was Brogan's bright reply.

Xavier sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, "Just because a picture has a beard doesn't mean that it's Albus Dumbledore."

"Huh?"

Xavier was racking his brains for another way to describe it to Brogan when Baxter took a card out of his hand and slid it down the table towards the pair of brothers. Xavier picked up the card, showed it to Brogan and let out a relieved sigh, "_This_ is a picture of Albus Dumbledore."

Brogan stared at the picture of the long-bearded man who had started to wave at him, and then he glanced back at his hand of cards, "So who's this again?"

"He's the king of spades," Xavier repeated.

"So what'd he do?"

"Nothing, he's from the normal deck of cards," Xavier explained.

Brogan frowned at the king of spades, "But he's also waving at me."

"Because we're wizards and even our normal playing cards have moving pictures," Xavier reminded his brother with a level of patience that he was surprised he still had at that point in the day.

The younger brother let out a long sigh, "This is a lot to remember."

"I know," Malcolm agreed sincerely.

Xavier tossed Baxter his card back and then Brogan pulled out his king of spades and put it on the table.

"You got this bloke Louis?"

Louis frowned apologetically at his girlfriend's little brother, "Sorry Bro, you're going to have to Go fish."

Brogan shrugged his shoulders and then reached forward to grab a famous wizard trading card. When he looked at it he smiled brightly and then turned it around and tried to show it to Oliver.

"Look Daddy it's you!"

Oliver smiled lovingly at his youngest child's enthusiasm at picking up a card with his picture on it. He missed the days when Xavier and Cecilia were young enough to still get excited over seeing pictures of their parents on posters in store windows and covers of magazines. He gazed fondly at Brogan, and then glanced at the miniature picture of himself from two decades ago that was printed on the famous wizard trading card.

Brogan glanced back at the picture and then frowned, "Or is that Xav?"

"No, it's me Champ," Oliver reassured the five-year-old, "It's an old picture from back when I was Xav's age."

Malcolm reached for the card in Brogan's hand, "Is that the rare collectible one then?"

Teddy glanced at the card once it was in Malcolm's hand, "Looks like it. I don't know how rare they're supposed to be though. Vic has like five of those at home."

"I didn't know that Victoire collects chocolate frog cards," Xavier remarked with disbelief.

Teddy held in a smirk as he glanced at Xavier, "She doesn't."

Louis, Baxter, and Malcolm began to chuckle while Freddie looked confused, "Then why does she have five cards with Oliver's picture on them?"

"Because she was put on this earth with the sole purpose of making my life miserable," Xavier complained as he freely dropped his head forward and banged it against the polished dining table.

Brogan glanced at Xavier confusedly, "What's wrong with Xav?"

Freddie, who now that he was in on the joke had started to chuckle along with the other men at the table, explained the situation in terms Brogan could understand, "He's upset that Victoire thinks that your Dad's cute."

"Oh," Brogan said as he contemplated Freddie's words, "But does Vic think that I'm cute?"

Oliver, Malcolm, Louis, and Teddy all answered his question for him, "Yes."

"Okay!" Brogan accepted the answer happily, "Whose turn is it now?"

* * *

**2:58 PM**

"So has she spilt any details about Wesley yet?" Victoire Weasley asked her friend and work colleague Cassidy Hopewell as the two sipped on glasses of her Uncle Marc's exceptionally expensive but delightfully flavourful red wine.

While the beginning of Victoire's bridal shower had been crazy and hectic, mostly because Dom and Alexandrie enjoyed flitting around and encouraging the other women in the room to start a fight or to over-indulge in alcohol, as the afternoon wore on things started to calm down and everyone seemed to be having a good time despite a language barrier between half of the guests.

At the moment Victoire had carved out some time to talk about work and gossip about their colleagues with Cassidy, and they were having fun chatting in a more secluded corner of the room where it would be difficult for other people to eavesdrop on their conversation.

"I got a glass of wine and a cup of that not-so-secret punch Dom made into her before she realized what I was trying to do," Cassidy explained as she tapped her fingernail against her wine glass.

Victoire pursed her lips, "At this point it might be easier to accidentally spill a few drops of veritaserum in Wesley's morning tea and get the story out of him instead."

"But wouldn't that make you feel like you were abusing his trust and autonomy?" Cassidy queried.

Victoire's expression immediately turned from contemplative to taken aback, "No. Do you even know me Cassidy?"

"Are you guys really going to keep talking about me as if I'm not even standing here?" Sarah MacGregor asked disbelievingly as she crossed her arms over her chest and frowned at her two _friends_.

Cassidy glanced at Sarah for the first time since Victoire had started talking to her, "That depends . . . are you finally going to tell us what's going on with you and Wesley?"

Sarah snorted, "You'll need to _accidentally_ misuse some veritaserum before you'll be able to get it out of me."

"Don't tempt me," Victoire warned Sarah only somewhat playfully as she pointed a long finger at the other healer.

"I wouldn't accept any food or drink from her for the next six months at least if I were you," Cassidy stage-whispered to Sarah.

Victoire frowned at her colleagues, "If I wanted to get verbally abused by people who are supposed to care about me I'd go strike up a conversation with some of my Mum's bitchier cousins."

"Everyone's been very nice to us so far," Sarah assured Victoire.

Victoire nodded, "That's only because after the first half hour I charmed all of the drink glasses to nip at the fingers of anyone who says something rude or passive aggressive to someone else."

Cassidy sent a fleeting glance to Victoire's hands, "Is that why you've got some newly healed skin patches on your fingertips?"

"It's only fair of me to accept the same punishment for rude behaviour as everyone else," Victoire commented with a shrug.

Sarah raised an eyebrow at her inquisitively, "So what'd you say to earn those nips?"

"They were worth it, my Mum's cousin Mariette was being a bitch about Dom behind her back," Victoire explained.

Sarah and Cassidy nodded, and then they switched topics to a new healing study that had been published by one of their professors from healing school. Once they finished discussing the intricacies of the study Victoire excused herself to go talk to more of her guests.

As she walked through her Aunt Gabrielle's large sitting room, Victoire looked around at all of the guests and did a mental tally to make sure that she'd at least spent a few minutes chatting to each of her great-aunts during the party. At the end of her mental intake Victoire noticed Sandra standing by herself near the empty marble fireplace and she strode over to her best friend.

"Are you feeling alright?" Victoire asked her best mate from Hogwarts in a hushed tone of voice that she didn't want to carry to anybody else around them.

Sandra seemed surprised at being greeted in such a way, but she recovered quickly, "I'm fine, why?"

Victoire thought about how she wanted to say what she'd intended to say to her friend, but before there could be too much of a pause she decided to just go ahead and say it.

"I couldn't help but notice that you haven't been drinking alcohol today."

Sandra froze in shock upon hearing her friend's observation, "Was I that obvious?"

"No, I think I'm the only one who was paying close enough attention. I just wanted to make sure that you're feeling okay and that-"

"Just ask me what you want to ask me Vic," Sandra interrupted her so that they could get to the chase.

Victoire grabbed Sandra's hand and squeezed it comfortingly as she met her gaze, "Are you avoiding alcohol because you're pregnant?"

Sandra bit her lip and her two second hesitation made Victoire's stomach clench with anxiety.

"No. I'm not pregnant," Sandra said softly. It seemed that she was done with her statement, but then she swallowed thickly and started to talk again, "But the healer still suggested that I avoid alcohol if I'm trying to get pregnant."

Victoire felt her eyes bug out of their sockets, "So you and Kyle are trying though?"

Sandra breathed a deep breath in through her nose and exhaled out her mouth before replying, "We've been discussing this for a while –since before we found out that Stasia and Colton and everyone else were expecting– and we only just decided a few weeks ago that we wanted to start trying."

Even though Victoire would have appreciated a few minutes to take stock of her own feelings over hearing that her married best mate had decided that she was ready to start trying to have a baby, she knew that she needed to be extra supportive of Sandra considering that she was the woman who almost had a panic attack a few years ago when she and Kyle first got married because she felt that she wasn't ready to have a baby despite the fact that her parents seemed to be putting pressure on her to get pregnant after the wedding.

"And you think you're ready to have a baby now?" Victoire asked her friend gently.

Sandra smiled sadly, "No I don't think I'm ready, but I don't think anybody is ever completely ready to have a baby even if they think they are. I do however, finally believe that waiting longer isn't going to make me feel any more ready for a baby. So I figured that if waiting is no longer going to make me feel better, then why bother waiting? Once Kyle realized that I was starting to lean towards looking at procreating with him favourably, he started trying to make having a baby with him seem even more appealing. He's been pointing out adorable babies everywhere we go, holding up the tiniest little baby clothes for me to look at when we go shopping, and he's been commenting left and right about Stasia's pregnancy and how excited she and Colton are to become parents."

"He was bringing out the big guns then," Victoire mused with a half-smile, "But eventually he got to you, didn't he?"

Sandra chuckled, "I was making him sweat it out a bit before telling him that I was ready to start trying; and then he started a big spiel about how you and Teddy are going to have a baby before next summer hits and how fun it would be to have babies together, and raise them together, and have them go to Hogwarts together-"

"Did he go on to say how he wanted our kids to get married to each other and have kids together?" Victoire asked more than a little sarcastically.

Sandra smiled candidly, "I stopped him before he could get to that point because I was honestly worried about what I might hear."

Victoire smirked and pulled Sandra into a hug, "It would be fun to raise our kids at the same time though."

"I know," Sandra practically sighed as she hugged Victoire back tightly.

"So a healer told you to avoid alcohol while trying to get pregnant?" Victoire asked. She figured discussing the medical aspects of the situation would not only help ground her, but help make Sandra feel more at home because she would have come to expect it from her healer best mate.

Sandra pushed a piece of her curly hair behind her ear, "Yes, that was the advice we were given. I was also told that I'm slightly iron deficient and that I should start taking a supplement so that I can get my levels up before I end up conceiving."

"Did your healer explain that-"

"That even though I've gone off my contraception potion that it may still take a few or even several months until I'm able to conceive," Sandra filled in for her.

Victoire pointed her finger at Sandra, "Yes, that. That was what I was going to ask. So your obstetric healer is treating you well then?"

Sandra nodded.

"Who do you go to anyway? Is it someone from St. Mungo's?"

Sandra smirked and crossed her arms over her chest, "Vic . . . it's Healer Jarvis."

"That Arsehole!"

Sandra rolled her eyes at Victoire's ire and resentment, but listened passively as Victoire began to badmouth her co-worker.

"That absolute Prat! My best mate –and he knows that you're my best mate– comes to him wanting medical advice on how to get pregnant and he doesn't even tell me! The plonker!" Victoire continued to complain.

Sandra let out a heavy sigh, "He's my healer Vic and I'm his patient. Ergo, it was covered under healer-patient confidentiality."

"_Pssh_, he's my colleague and my friend and he was keeping it a secret that you want a baby!"

"Whatever," Sandra said with a small snicker, "You can hash it out with him tomorrow at work."

Victoire looked at Sandra seriously, "And you can bet that I _will_ be talking to him about it."

"Why does that sound like a threat?"

"Because it is one, to him," Victoire said before she decided to change the topic and pull Sandra back into a hug, "Oh my goodness you're going to be a mum!"

Sandra slapped her hand over Victoire's mouth, "Not so loud! There's nothing official to share yet and there probably won't be for a few months."

"Got it, I'll push it down until I hear something official," Victoire said, her words a little muffled since Sandra's hand was still covering her mouth.

It was only when Sandra knew for sure that Victoire wasn't going to out her secret that she slowly began to pull her hand away from her friend's mouth.

"Can I give you some advice?"

"Is it medical conception tips? Because I love you Vic, I really do, but I don't quite feel up to discussing it with you right this moment," Sandra told her.

Victoire rolled her eyes, "No it's not conception tips. It's a tip on how to make it seem like you're drinking when you're really not. Which you will need to utilize if you want to keep yours and Kyle's new understanding a secret."

Sandra opened her arms and gestured for Victoire to go ahead.

"So, when you go to take a sip of an alcoholic drink make sure to keep one hand on your wand in your pocket so that you can inconspicuously vanish small amounts of the drink when you pretend to sip it," Victoire explained.

Sandra nodded, "That is a good tip, thanks."

Victoire smiled and then went on to explain in detail another, much more complex, way that Sandra could pretend to be drinking heavily while actually avoiding alcohol so that nobody else would be able to figure out that she was abstaining.

* * *

**A/N:** Well everyone I hope you enjoyed this new chapter. Many of you really wanted James new trainer to be Selene, so let me know if it lived up to your expectations. Also, how cute is Brogan?

A lot of medical doctors will suggest that women avoid alcohol if trying to conceive because by the time a women realizes she's pregnant she's usually already a few weeks pregnant. Obviously if a woman hadn't been trying to get pregnant and has been drinking, and realizes after six weeks that she is pregnant the chances of those few weeks of alcohol causing permanent damage to the fetus is slim (assuming of course that the amount of alcohol consumed over the past several weeks was of an average amount).

There is some debate in different countries and culturally about whether drinking even a little bit of alcohol is safe while pregnant or trying to become pregnant, but according to the Public Health Agency of Canada "There is no safe amount or safe time to drink alcohol during pregnancy or when planning pregnancy" and since I live in Canada that is the information that colours what I'm going to impart in my writing. Obviously in real life (as with my story) accidental conception can occur, so when it does it is best to stop drinking alcohol from that point on and consult a licensed medical professional.

**Next Chapter:** We are still going to be at Victoire's bridal shower, but the day takes an interesting turn and there will be a lot of Dom and Victoire doing what they do best: bickering with each other but somehow still ensuring that the other person gets the respect they deserve.

**Next Update:** In two weeks!

I want to thank everyone who has followed, favourited, read, and especially reviewed!

BIG thank yous as always to:

**rosesnlilies, Bobulus, LilyGinnyLunaMcGonagall, Guest (1), no cure for crazy, RebekahGrace, audrey3horses, Shinethedown, cjaben1, Lostinwords23, Guest (2), Strangerdangerbaby, saagarika, Beckster384, NicoleTheSmith, Dakota1, Jily71102, **and** Miriam**.

**cjaben1:** Sorry couldn't update any sooner. We will see some Tabitha eventually in this story, but since this chapter about the bridal shower turned into three I can't promise a timeline until I get to writing that part. Tabitha definitely would have been invited, but she felt worried about leaving Zach to go to France for the party (as you will see when we finally see her) even though Clark definitely offered to look after him.

**saagarika:** Even though there was still a lot of awkwardness, and there will be a lot of awkwardness to come, they both care about quidditch too much to let that get in the way of anything quidditch related. We will find out what happened between the two of them, I promise, but not quite yet.

**Dakota1:** Teddy and Xavier both clear six feet. I think it's mentioned that both men are near the same height, Teddy might be an inch taller. I don't think I was ever more specific than that. I originally went tall because I have a lot of tall people in my family and most men I knew (at that point in my life when I started writing this and before I went off to university in a much bigger city) were six feet or taller.

**Miriam:** Thank you, I'm glad that there's such an obvious increase in writing proficiency actually. I was about fourteen when I started writing Try and Tri Again, and about fifteen when I first uploaded it, so obviously I'd prefer to have my writing increase over the last decade.

**I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter,**

**Please leave me your thoughts or any questions or concerns you may have in a review or PM,**

**Until next time, DFTBA!**


	13. Unconventional Sisterly Bonding

**A/N:** Hello everyone, here's the the next chapter! I'm a few days late, but better late than never.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own _Harry Potter._

**Warning:** There are a few topics mentioned in his chapter that deal with very serious, but real and topical issues. I don't think I've written it in a way that is triggering, but please let me know if you think i should give more of a warning for it.

* * *

**Recap:** Vic's bridal shower is just dragging on. This is the last chapter concerning it, but it definitely has a different and more serious tone than the last one.

* * *

**Unconventional Sisterly Bonding**

**Sunday, April 28th 2024**

**3:26 PM **

On the other side of Gabrielle's sitting room Dom was refilling her poorly-hidden bowl of special punch that she had to, on more than one occasion, convince her younger cousins Émilie and Esmé was a yucky probiotic vegetable-based drink that they wouldn't want to taste, when her cousin Alexandrie's girlfriend Stephanie came up behind her.

"How's work going Dom?" Stephanie asked the redhead in French.

Dom poured half a bottle of Shrieking Sour Lemonade into the depleted punch bowl and replied, "It's actually going really well Stephanie. My boss is going to have a baby in a few months and when that happens I'm confident that he'll end up giving me more of his important clients and cases because he'll want to cut down on his work and spend more time with his wife and wailing infant."

"Have you been taking on a lot of cases on your own lately?" Stephanie asked as she shoved her hands into the pockets of her stylish linen shift dress.

Dom shrugged and measured out a few ounces of gigglewater to add to the punch mix, "I've been flying solo on a few of them but Colton, my boss, seems to always find a way to stick his nose in to see how I'm faring. I know that it's not because he's worried that I'm going to botch the situation, but that he wants to try to ease away any issues that might come up because he's trying to look out for me. But it's still irritating sometimes."

"Ever done any criminal work?" Stephanie queried.

"A bit . . . most of it was about Vic though so it's not like I've defended a client who used an unforgivable or anything like that. Although I can't say for certain that Vic's never _imperiou_s-ed anyone before . . ."

Stephanie eyed Dom's progress mixing the punch idly, "What about civil rights cases?"

"To be honest Steph, most of my personal career experience so far has been like seventy-five percent divorces, wills, estate disputes, pre-nups, business mergers, and real estate dealings. I haven't really had the chance to dip my toes into the water of much worthier causes," Dom replied with a bit of a frown as she internally wondered whether she'd like to deal with more serious cases compared to the relatively easy ones she's be overseeing ever since graduating her law course.

"But what about that other twenty-five percent?" Stephanie pressed, a new urgency in her tone.

Dom grabbed the punch ladle and started to stir the different types of beverages into one cohesive mixture, "Well five to eight percent of that twenty-five percent was spent helping my boss get Victoire out of whatever mess she'd gotten herself into with St. Mungo's board of ethics over the past few years."

The redhead set the ladle down and turned her attention fully towards her cousin's girlfriend for the first time since their discussion began, "Why are you asking?

Stephanie seemed to consider what she was about to say very carefully. However, now that Dom was actually paying attention to her cousin's supermodel girlfriend, she noticed that Stephanie had waves of unease rolling off of her.

"I–I think I need your help. I know that this is Victoire's bridal shower and that you're her sister and maid of honour and that it's important for you to be here but-"

Dom cut her off abruptly, "I can and I will ditch this party if it's something serious. Just give me the important details."

"Okay, well I just received a message from a friend about a mutual friend of ours. I was just informed that this mutual friend was arrested a half hour ago by law enforcement because they claimed that he had been attacking someone. From what I know about the situation, my friend was defending himself from what I would easily consider a hate crime, but the person who had attacked him decided to play the victim for law enforcement. Since this faux-victim is old money and has a lot of family connections he's gotten off scot-free while my friend is sitting in a jail cell because it's a Sunday and it's impossible to get a ministry appointed public defender to bail you out on a Sunday-"

Dom interrupted Stephanie again, "Say no more. I'm definitely sober enough for this task, but it's probs best if you side-along apparate me to where they're holding your friend because I really shouldn't take chances with magical travel."

Stephanie agreed right away to transport Dom to where her friend was jailed; she was just glad that Dom agreed to help her and that it didn't take a half hour to convince her to agree to offer up her services for her friend. It was relatively easy to sneak out of Gabrielle's house without anybody noticing, although that might have been because Alexandrie had already been appraised of the situation and had told Stephanie that she'd run interference for them if needed so that they could sneak out of the party.

The pair apparated down the street from where the law enforcement station was located, and as they paced toward the correct building Dom finally asked Stephanie to share some more important details about the incident with her. Specifically why she thought that her friend's arrest could be considered a civil rights violation.

Stephanie sighed and then explained that her friend, who self identifies as a gay man, was on a public street in front of a commercial building and protesting that the owners of the business were unfairly treating their employees who were part of the LGBTQ+ community. A person who was a known member of a social group that had been known to campaign against LGBTQ+ rights in favour of championing the quickly dying-out existence of the natural nuclear heterosexual family, spotted Stephanie's friend and started an argument with him. When Stephanie's friend pointed out that he was on public property and not breaking any laws, this other person drew their wand and started to hex Stephanie's friend. The fight escalated as Stephanie's friend used magic to defend himself, and when magical law enforcement showed up to re-establish the peace they listened to the lies the other man was spewing about Stephanie's friend starting the fight, and in the end her friend was arrested while the other man got off without so much as a warning because he had a powerful last name.

By the time they had reached the building that housed that area of the city's magical law enforcement, Dom was spitting mad about the societal injustices and crushed civil liberties Stephanie had described and she was more than ready to strut into the room and kick some homophobic law enforcement arse.

Even though Dom had dressed a little more on the girly and demure side for Victoire's bridal shower –mostly because her mother would have flipped if she'd shown up to the party in her black leather mini-skirt and sequined halter-top– she was glad that she was still wearing shoes with a high enough heel to help give her the confidence to kick ass. The fact that she was dressed in a floral dress with a frilly lace trim would also help her because it would probably cause the law enforcement officers she was about to meet think that she was decorous and reserved. They wouldn't find out until it was much too late that she was actually the exact opposite.

Stephanie being an almost six-feet tall-without-even-wearing-heels lingerie model, was also rather a force to be reckoned with at first glance, and she swept up into the law enforcement building with a level of outrage and entitlement that only pretty Caucasian women with money can ever get away. Dom took a backseat to Stephanie's –totally justified in Dom's opinion– indignation over her friend's arrest and waited for the right minute to play her hand.

It was obvious after only a few minutes of Stephanie's spiel, where she demanded to have her friend released, that the less competent law enforcement officers were scheduled to work the lame Sunday afternoon shifts. The two men Stephanie had been righteously complaining to were also, apparently, rather thick in the head because they spent the first five minutes of Stephanie's rapid rant unabashedly staring at the low neckline of her dress. This caused Stephanie to snap her fingers in front of both of the officers' faces, inform them that her eyes were housed elsewhere, and then demand to see their supervisor with all of the privileged-white-girl tone she could muster.

If the situation hadn't been so serious, Dom would have started a slow-clap to illustrate to Stephanie her appreciation for the absolutely brilliant performance she was putting on. As it was, the officers' supervisor must have been able to hear Stephanie's forceful tone echo through the relatively empty floor and to his office, because he had arrived at the front desk to deal with them within only a few minutes of Stephanie threatening to file a law enforcement harassment lawsuit.

"What can I do for you young ladies?" The supervisor with the really shiny badge on his robes questioned Stephanie and Dom with what he thought was his charming smile.

Stephanie put her hands on her hips, "I came here to see my friend who I was informed is being held here without just cause all the while having his civil liberties violated-"

The supervisor interrupted her before she could call out more buzzwords, "There must be a misunderstanding Mademoiselle -"

"_Ms_. Paquet," Stephanie supplied for him, "And there is no misunderstanding. I am here to see Jérôme Leclair and I will not leave until I can ensure that he has appropriate legal representation and that you are not trampling all over his rights as a citizen of this country and as a human being."

"Ms. Paquet, I believe when I got here I heard one of my men explaining to you that Monsieur Leclair has been read his rights and that we have followed our normal protocol step-by-step-"

Stephanie crossed her arms over her chest, "Well I am sorry if I do not believe you Sir, because I happen to know that Monsieur Leclair has yet to be issued a proper legal advocate even though he has been in your custody for almost a whole hour now."

"The minute Monsieur Leclair indicated that he required a ministry appointed lawyer we contacted the legal aid department. Unfortunately since it is a Sunday there are not many legal aid lawyers working and they are very busy with cases and clients that they already have on their rosters. While this is unfortunate, it is not unheard of for the wheels of the _free_ justice system to turn slowly. We abstained from speaking to Monsieur Leclair about his charges and the public incident the exact moment that he requested legal representation, as is his civil right as you previously mentioned. However it is well within our jurisdiction to hold Monsieur Leclair until his legal representation arrives, or until twenty-four hours after his initial arrest," The supervisor explained.

Stephanie turned to glance at Dom as if to silently ask if the supervisor was giving her accurate information, and Dom nodded her head to indicate that he was being honest with her even though Dom wasn't fully up to speed on the exact number of hours a person could be held by ministry law enforcement in France after an arrest.

The surprisingly socially-conscious Siren's Secret model went back to glaring at the law enforcement supervisor, "Well if that's all that's standing in Monsieur Leclair's way of getting this little issue resolved then I think I've got a solution that will help everyone here." Stephanie smiled brightly and gestured to Dom, "_This_ is Monsieur Leclair's new legal representation."

"I am going to need proof that this young woman is a qualified legal advocate before I can allow her to meet with Monsieur Leclair," The supervisor said as he glanced disbelievingly at Dom.

Dom pulled one of her business cards out of her purse and wordlessly handed it to the man. He glanced at it and then squinted as he read the English writing on the card that stated that she was a Jr. associate lawyer at the firm of 'Cunningham and Knott Law Office and Associates'.

"An Anglophone?" The supervisor asked derisively in French.

Dom put her hands on her hips and replied in flawless French, "I can assure you that my language abilities are more than up to the task at hand. I'd like to see my client now, and I'll require Ms. Paquet to come with me so that she can make the proper introductions."

Even though Dom had yet to bring out her most bad-ass attitude, the supervisor seemed to sense that she was not to be trifled with and instructed one of his officers to take her and Stephanie to the holding cells so that they could speak with the 'offender'. It didn't take long to get to the cells, but once they were there Stephanie's anger –which Dom had thought she was doing a relatively good job restraining– was starting to leak out when she saw the lone man sitting in the last of a row of empty cells. The man looked to be about five years older than Stephanie, so in his early-mid thirties. His slightly curly chestnut-brown head was bowed down when they got there, so Dom didn't get a good look at his face until Stephanie called his attention to them. She ran towards the cell door so that she could be as close to him as the cell bars would allow, and her friend met her there with a statement already prepared to try to calm down her obvious anxiety.

Once Stephanie had assured herself that law enforcement had at least made the effort to get any injuries he might have had from the duel with the other man healed, she gestured towards Dom.

"Jérôme, this is Dominique Weasley. She's here to be your legal representation and to get you out."

Jérôme looked at Stephanie with obvious surprise, "Where in the world did you find me a lawyer on such short notice on a Sunday afternoon Steph? This must be costing you a fortune-"

"Don't worry about all of that right now," Stephanie waved off his concerns as she reached through the bars to grasp his hands, "Dom is a cousin of Alexandrie's. We were at an event together when I got the call from Emmanuel that you had been arrested."

Dom stepped forward and reached her hand out to Jérôme through the bars of the cell, "Monsieur Leclair I'm just here to do what I can to help. Stephanie has already told me what she was told about your situation, however, I'd like to hear it from you now, if that's alright?"

Jérôme nodded, waited for Dom to pull out a pen and notepad from her purse, and then launched into his story. Luckily for Monsieur Leclair, his story very closely resembled the one he had already told his friend Emmanuel (who in turn had repeated it to Stephanie, who had then told Dom) which meant that he was not changing any details of the situation in his most recent recitation; whether by accident or on purpose. Dom knew that it was important for her client to sound reliable and trustworthy in the off chance that the incident would cause him to go on trial, but it was her intent to get the charges dropped before it could even go that far.

Despite Monsieur Leclair's solid recitation skills, Dom noticed that he was getting increasingly distracted throughout his explanation and the series of questions Dom had asked him afterward. It was only a few minutes into the story of his protesting and subsequent arrest that he started cringing and clutching at his lower abdomen. He seemed to be trying to ignore his own pain as he spoke to her, but by the time they'd gotten to the part about the police arriving to arrest him after the other man lied to them, he was breathing heavy and starting to sweat and Dom couldn't allow him to ignore it anymore.

"Are you alright Monsieur Leclair?"

He groaned in pain, still clutching his lower abdomen, "Just starting to get a stomach ache."

"That's your intestines," Dom pointed out in a tone that sounded way too much like Victoire. She narrowed her gaze at him as she considered him, "What injuries from the duel did you have when law enforcement arrived and broke it up?"

From behind her Dom could hear Stephanie's worried gasp. She had to give the supermodel credit, Stephanie had been silent and content to stay in the background throughout Dom's cross-examination and this was the first time that she had visibly reacted to something Jérôme had said.

"I'd dodged all of the stunners but he got me with a few severing hexes. I had some shallow injuries to my extremities when law enforcement arrived," Jérôme explained.

Dom nodded, but the paleness of his skin and amount of sweat that was rolling down his face still worried her, "What about other spells? Maybe something that wouldn't cause outward damage but internal?"

"No. I mean, things were moving pretty fast there for a moment and it's possible that I was hit with something else, but I think if I had internal damage I would have felt it during the duel," He said.

"And the pain from the severing hexes was all you felt? There were no other sources of pain? Nothing that could have been like Cruciatus-level?" Dom enquired.

Jérôme shook his head, "No, once the emergency medics healed my injuries from the severing hexes my pain went away."

"But you're in pain now," Dom pointed out needlessly.

He groaned again and clutched harder at his stomach, "Ye – Yes . . . but I wasn't hit by a severing hex there."

"There was nothing there when the medics did a comprehensive external check on you?"

Jérôme's skin was almost paper white by that point, "Well they–they didn't do a full external check-"

"What?!" Stephanie finally interrupted as she paced up to the cell bars, "The officers didn't allow the medics to do a full exam on you?"

"It-" He had to pause so that he could breathe through a harsh stab of pain, "It wasn't necessary. I . . . _ah_ . . . I just had a few obvious cuts from the severing curses. Once those were cleared up the _ah_–fficers wanted to arrest me right away and I h–_ah_-d no other obvious injuries to deal with. Maybe what I'm feeling now is resid-_ow _pain from the earlier hexes?"

Dom didn't buy it, "Roll your shirt up for me so that I can see your abdomen."

If her firm tone wasn't enough to convince him to do so, the glare Stephanie was giving him sure was.

Jérôme rolled up the bottom of his sweater and Dom instantly spotted a thin slightly jagged scar across his lower abdomen. There didn't seem to be a lot of blood congealed around it, but it also wasn't a clean cut like severing curses usually leave.

"I – I don't remember being hit here-"

Stephanie looked like she wanted to touch the injury, but a second later Jérôme was back to clutching at it and groaning in pain, "So you didn't tell the medics to heal this one?"

"I didn't kn-_ah-ow_ about it. Maybe it was one of the first ones to hit me and it healed on its own by the time the medics had gotten there?" Jérôme suggested.

Dom frowned. She wouldn't claim to know anywhere near as much about dark arts injuries as Victoire did, but she had –begrudgingly at some points– paid attention to Defense Against the Dark Arts when she was in school. It was a rule within their family that all of the 'kids' were required to keep up at least an 'Exceeds Expectations' when it came to DADA. For every other subjects 'As' were acceptable, and sometimes even the odd 'P' or 'D' when it came to the subject of Divination, but for personal defence against dark magic it was mandatory that they were all competent enough to keep at least themselves alive.

What Dom did know about dark magic though, was that severing curses didn't just clot over and 'heal' themselves, and they definitely wouldn't continue to cause a person who had been inflicted with them pain after more than an hour had passed.

"Monsieur Leclair, I think it would be best to get you additional medical care. Right away. I'd like your permission to speak to one of the officers about this," Dom told him seriously.

He actually looked like he was going to deny her request, but then he was unable to hold in his next cry of pain and Stephanie went ahead to alert the officers that they needed help. The first cry of pain that escaped Jérôme was loud but quick, the one that escaped him right as one of the officers and their supervisor were walking towards them with Stephanie was high-pitched, keening, and painfully long.

"What-"

Dom interrupted the supervisor's exclamation of surprise, "Monsieur Leclair requires additional medical attention right away. As you can see he is in incredible pain and obviously must still be suffering from a curse he was hit with during the earlier attack-"

"Humph, I'm not going to release him just because he's got a bit of a stomach ache," The supervisor complained as he looked at Jérôme without any remorse in his expression.

It was obvious that the pain was starting to escalate and reach a whole new level, because the next time Jérôme hunched over to clutch his stomach his knees gave out and he hit the floor of his cell with a _thump_.

"He needs medical attention! If you're not going to release him so that he can seek it then you need to arrange for emergency medical personnel to get here post haste!" Dom demanded in her 'don't mess with me' tone of voice.

The supervisor rolled his eyes, "He's obviously faking and making this up after the fact so that it will help you when you go to spin his tale about him being the innocent victim in the situation."

Dom was almost spitting angry at this point, and Jérôme's cries of pain were just becoming louder and louder.

She turned to Stephanie, "Go to Gabrielle's and get Victoire."

Stephanie knew better than to waste time with needless questions when her friend was in so much pain, so she walked out of the room without even bothering to give either law enforcement officer a second look.

Dom wished that she could help Jérôme with his pain, but with Victoire on the way she didn't want to cast any spells on him that could interfere with whatever she was going to do. Instead she rounded on the law enforcement supervisor and unleashed hell on him.

"If it turns out that my client is suffering from a serious condition that you have been ignoring, you can bet your badge that I will file both a criminal and a civil lawsuit on his behalf for the negligence and pain you're causing him."

Even though the supervisor didn't believe that Jérôme's hastily escalating pain was real, he was starting to get worried about the fact that Dom didn't seem anywhere near as ditzy as she looked.

Dom was trying to get more information about his attack –which is what she had started calling it since he was the victim and had only ever defended himself– but he was too distracted to give her more information about what type of spell it could have been that hit him and was now, only an hour later, causing him pain. She was at her wits end when Stephanie finally showed up again, this time with Victoire in tow.

Her older sister already had her wand out and 'healer face' already in place, and she did a beautiful job of completing ignoring the flabbergasted interrogation she was getting from the law enforcement officers the moment she stepped into the room. Victoire knelt down on the other side of the cell bars from where Jérôme was curled up on the floor in pain and addressed him.

"Monsieur Leclair, I'm healer Victoire Weasley and your friend Stephanie has brought me here to assess you. May I examine you?" Victoire asked Jérôme in a no-nonsense tone. She wanted him to feel like she respected his autonomy –which she did– but the truth was that she was a healer so she had a duty to try to heal him if he was injured, even if he didn't exactly want her to.

Jérôme let out a groan of pain that sounded like an approximation of a 'yes' and Victoire thought 'what the hell that's good enough'. She cast a few routine examination spells that were reflex to her at that point, while also asking Monsieur Leclair about his pain levels and if he would show her the injury Stephanie had mentioned was on his lower abdomen.

As she did her job, the law enforcement supervisor worked up enough nerve to demand to see her qualifications. She ignored him while Dom made a scoffing sound and said something derisive about how it was _so_ likely that a healer was going to carry her qualifications around on her during her own bridal shower.

When Victoire finally saw the jagged mark on Jérôme's lower abdomen, which had already congealed with a thin layer of blood, her first instinct was to be suspicious. One part of her mind was busy trying to search her vast mental rolodex of dark magical curses and injuries, while her mouth was busy asking questions.

"You don't recall getting hit by a spell here?"

Jérôme had reached a level of pain and suffering which made it impossible for him to offer verbal replies for each question asked of him, so he did his best to shake his head or nod when it came to Victoire's questions.

He shook his head in between a low keening scream.

"No other medical professional attended to that specific injury?"

Another shake of the head.

Victoire frowned as her mind was still running through all of the possibilities, "It only started to pain you a little while ago?"

Jérôme nodded his head this time, sweat dripping off his forehead and onto the floor next to him since he was still curled in on himself in a ball. Victoire didn't particularly enjoy the fact that her patient was laying on the floor in the foetal position and there was a wall of bars between them, but she was trying to make do with what she could before she asked for something that would further anger the law enforcement officers who Dom was still arguing with and threatening to sue in civil court.

"I know this is very difficult Monsieur Leclair, but could you do your best to describe exactly what it is you're feeling?"

Victoire hated to resort to this method of information gathering, but her lack of knowledge about what actually occurred during his attack, and the lack of helpful test results from the basic diagnostic spells she ran were really hindering her progress. She just wished that she could offer Jérôme a potion or a spell that would ease the physical pain he was feeling, but she didn't want to put any magic into his system when she wasn't sure what kind of spells she was going to need to heal the actual cause of his pain.

It took a few moments of gasping out words and starting and stopping of his explanation because of the pain he was under, but eventually Jérôme was able to describe to Victoire that at the moment it felt like his intestines were liquefying within his lower abdomen while conscious.

The description was helpful in the sense that it helped narrow down exactly what his illness was _not_. Unfortunately, she didn't know what it was since she'd done a diagnostic spell on his intestines already and they seemed to be working fine.

"I need to get into the cell to treat him," Victoire told the law enforcement officers, interrupting Dom's continued threats of civil liberty lawsuits in the process.

Predictably, with how the process with the law enforcement officers had been going already that afternoon, they immediately told her that she was not allowed to do that and that she'd have to cure the suspect from the other side of the bars. Victoire in turn glared at the officers in general and at the supervisor in specific, but before she could say anything Jérôme let out another agonized scream of pain that was louder than before.

Dom scowled at the sound, accioed the magic keys that unlocked the cell door (she wasn't sure that it was going to work but then they flew out of the robe pocket of the shortest officer), and she chucked them to Victoire before anybody else could figure out what was going on.

Victoire caught the keys, let herself in, and then threw the keys back towards the officers once she was able to kneel down on the floor next to a still screaming Jérôme.

"He needs to be admitted to the closest Dark Arts Reversal ward immediately," Victoire told the men who were only just catching up to the fact that Dom had sort of 'stolen' their keys.

"You can't do that!" The supervisor was yelling at Dom.

Dom put her hands on her hips, "You were obstructing and violating his right to proper medical care!"

"He's perfectly fine-"

"This man needs more medical attention than I can provide him!" Victoire yelled to purposely interrupt the law enforcement supervisor.

Everyone turned to look at her at this point and Stephanie looked like she was going to start crying when she saw how much pain Jérôme was in.

"Well-" The supervisor began to say only to be interrupted by Jérôme yelling in pain again.

Victoire scowled at the law enforcement officers, "He. Requires. Offsite. Medical. Attention."

Just when the supervisor seemed as though he was going to relent, Jérôme screams suddenly cut off and his breathing eased.

"The–the pain is going away," Jérôme told Victoire, his voice hoarse from screaming in pain.

"What?" Victoire asked shocked.

The supervisor seemed to have a different reaction, "I knew he was faking!"

Victoire growled at the law enforcement officers to give her a moment, and she went back to examining her patient.

"I–I'm feeling better, really."

"Just let me think," Victoire muttered. She put her fingers on her temples and started to rub them as if it would help her focus better. If she had no idea what was affecting him before, then she most definitely had no idea what it was now that the symptoms had mysteriously disappeared.

Outside of the jail cell, Dom was back to arguing with the supervisor.

"If he's no longer in excruciating pain then she needs to get out," The supervisor told Dom and he pointed at Victoire.

Dom replied with what Victoire wished she had the time to say to the bigoted man, "Just because his pain has disappeared all of a sudden doesn't mean that he's healed!"

"You know what? I think we've had just about enough of you," The supervisor said as he got all up into Dom's face, "We've allowed you here as a courtesy, but a few minutes ago one of my officers finally came back from checking your credentials and it turns out that you're not even qualified to practice law in this country!"

Dom wanted to argue back that in fact she had taken the test to practice law in France and passed it, mostly because Colton had been nagging her into do so for the last two years since she already spoke fluent French and he thought that her being certified in France could expand their clientele basis, but even though she had passed the test she had yet to send in her paperwork with her language fluency scores and her test scores to the governing body for law in the French Magical Ministry; so to her chagrin the supervisor was technically right.

She was about to argue back with the supervisor that technically there was a law on the books that would allow Monsieur Leclair to choose whoever he wanted to represent him in civil court –which his case would be tried in once she got his criminal charges dropped– but before she could Jérôme started screaming in pain again and had curled back into the foetal position on the floor of his cell.

His sudden screaming had startled Victoire enough that she jumped and dropped her wand, but she summoned it back to her hand and began peppering Jérôme with questions again.

"Is your abdomen hurting again?" She asked as she tried to get a good look at where he was clutching with his hands, which was very difficult considering the tight ball he was curled into.

He shook his head frantically and spat out the word, "Lower."

"Legs?" Victoire asked a little perplexedly.

"H-_uh_-igher."

Victoire gently tried to peel Jérôme's hands away from his body so that she could get a better look.

"Your groin area?" The question came out a little high-pitched because she was certain that that mustn't be right.

To Victoire's surprise Jérôme started frantically nodding in response to her question before he began making gagging noises and started to throw up on the floor.

Victoire used one hand to quickly move Jérôme into the recovery position so that he wouldn't aspirate on his own vomit, while the other hand was already waving her wand and casting more specific diagnostic spells.

"You need to get out of there, it's obvious what's going on now," The law enforcement supervisor commanded Victoire as he walked closer to the cell where she was still kneeling on the ground next to Jérôme.

Victoire shot him a look that clearly said she was disgusted with him, "Well if it's so obvious, why don't you explain it to me?"

"He was sweating profusely earlier and now he's vomiting. He must be on some newfangled illicit potion. It would explain the screaming too; he must have been hallucinating the pain and tweaking out."

Victoire already had her argument prepared to explain why he was both incorrect and making a grave error by socio-economically profiling Jérôme, but then one of her diagnostic spells finally responded with a positive result. She glanced down at her wand, then to Jérôme's groin, then back to her wand.

Dom recognized the look on Victoire's face and knew that it wasn't good, "What is it?"

"I'm not one-hundred percent sure yet."

The minute Jérôme finished vomiting he went back to screaming, and Victoire swore unintelligibly under her breath when she noticed a rapidly growing wet spot appear on the crotch of his pants.

"See!" The supervisor said loudly to Victoire as he pointed at wet spot on Jérôme's pants, "He's on drugs and he's tweaking. Urinating on themselves is a classic sign!"

Victoire tapped the tip of her wand to each of her wrists and a pair of sterile gloves appeared on her hands. Once her hands were covered she dove right in to Jérôme trousers.

"It's not urine," Victoire said, her voice having shifted back to its 'healer mode', "It's blood."

The supervisor shrugged his shoulders, "So he's got an STD, that's not uncommon with his type."

Dom rounded on the supervisor with fire in her eyes, "And _that_ comment is going to lose you both your badge and your pension."

"And I already told you that your business here is finished. Now take your healer and leave before I charge you both with impeding an investigation, arrest you, and lock you up in your own cell," The supervisor threatened Dom.

Victoire scoffed under her breath when she heard this, and then a few seconds later when the door to the cell she was in suddenly closed with perfect dramatic timing and flare, she realized that she must have caused that to happen with a bit of accidental magic.

Stephanie had come up to the border of the jail cell somewhere in the middle of all of the chaos.

"What's wrong with him Victoire?"

Victoire bit her lip, "I'm still not one-hundred percent sure-"

"If you're anywhere above sixty just go ahead and do whatever you need to do," Dom interrupted her sister. Half of her attention was still focused on the law enforcement officers because she didn't doubt that the supervisor would eventually fulfill his promise to arrest her and Victoire for impeding the investigation.

"It's not that simple," Victoire said in a slow and deliberate tone so that she wouldn't snap at her younger sister, "If he's having the symptoms I think he's having then whatever spell he was hit with to cause them is a spell that I've never seen before."

"What?"

"How can you know that you've never seen the spell if you know what the symptoms are?"

Victoire gripped her wand tightly and continued to inspect Jérôme's more private areas. Once he'd started urinating blood he'd slipped into a semi-unconscious state where he was mostly just cringing and moaning in pain.

"All of these symptoms point to what must be an obscure dark spell that I think is essentially liquefying his internal reproductive system," Victoire explained.

"_What?_" Stephanie repeated again, only this time in a very high-pitched and slightly hysterical tone.

Dom's face went white, "Is a spell like that actually possible?"

"Well his groin area is in excruciating pain; my diagnostic test just confirmed that there's something wrong with his internal reproductive organs, specifically the seminal vesicle; and blood is now gushing out of his urethra," Victoire described in a no-nonsense tone.

Stephanie looked frightened by Victoire's description, "But why was his abdomen in pain earlier?"

"That's the percent I'm not sure about, what I am sure about though, is that I've got to stop this spell before he ends up completely impotent," Victoire said gripping her wand even harder.

Her words made Stephanie hopeful, "So you can stop the curse even though you don't know what spell caused it?"

"I'll do what I can," Victoire replied in her 'healers-aren't-supposed-to-make-promises' voice that she hated using with her patients loved ones, but was necessary sometimes.

She stared down at Jérôme and knew that in this case speed was more important than finesse, but that she had to have enough finesse so that she wouldn't ruin his chances of reproducing later on in life.

"And what about that scar on his abdomen?" Stephanie had decided that peppering questions at Victoire from outside the cell would be helpful.

"I think that's the point of access from the curse, and that it took a bit to travel to his groin where it was finally able to wreak havoc," Victoire explained mostly to herself.

Dom looked a little calmer when she heard this, "Sounds like a perfect candidate for your new spell Vic."

Victoire clenched her teeth, "I'm not supposed to use that unless I get verbal and written informed consent from the patient-"

"He's almost unconscious," Dom pointed out needlessly.

"Exactly!"

Dom watched Victoire carefully and saw that her sister seemed to be dealing with an internal struggle, "But this is an emergency."

"I know!"

"Are you honestly telling me that you of all people are now so worried about the repercussions that could come of you saving a man's life that it's going to stop you from saving this man's life?"

Victoire could feel Dom's anxiety about the issue and it made her feel like her own was doubled, "No. I just thought that I should take a little longer to consider the repercussions than I usually do."

"Who are you and what have you done to my sister?"

"Fine I'll do it!"

Victoire pushed Jérôme's shirt up enough so that she could have access to the scar on his abdomen, took a deep breath to centre herself, and then tried to think of the feeling of being loved so that she could start her scar/dark magic removal spell. She could tell before she went to move her wand that the spell wasn't going to work the first time, so she tried to think of a more specific feeling of love to make the spell work properly. Victoire found that even though Dom had just been stressing her out more than she needed to, thinking about her little sister and how much she loved her brought about a much more tangible feeling that she was able to focus into her hand and then through her wand. With all of the practice with her and Healer McDavid's spell throughout the past year, she had the wand and hand motions recorded in her muscle memory even if coming up with the right loving thought was sometimes still elusive to her.

Her magic turned the tip of her wand into almost a vacuum, and when Victoire touched the tip of her wand to the blood-congealed laceration on his lower abdomen a long thick stream of dark inky magic was sucked out of the injury and into Victoire's wand. She wasn't quite sure how to do so, but Victoire did her best to try to force her magic to suck up all of the remainder of the dark curse that was affecting the different parts of Jérôme's body. When she was done she immediately cast another diagnostic spell on his internal reproductive organs at the same time that she physically assessed his outer reproductive organs.

"Did it work?" Dom queried curiously.

Victoire shushed her as she was still waiting for the response from her diagnostic. Jérôme's urethra stopped leaking blood a few seconds before her diagnostic was complete, and she could see that even his sweating was starting to lighten up.

"Did it work now?"

"_Shhh!_"

Victoire cast a spell on Jérôme to bring him back to consciousness, and when he came to it became apparent that he was in much less pain than before.

Stephanie was so happy that Jérôme was on the mend that she almost started crying, and even though Victoire was trying to be calm as she explained to Jérôme the treatment she had given him, inside she was also very glad to see that her spell had worked and that his body was well and truly beginning to heal.

Once it was established that Jérôme was getting better, a few things happened in rapid succession. The law enforcement supervisor physically pulled Victoire out of Jérôme's cell, and he instructed his officers to arrest Dom and Victoire for impeding their investigation process and a few other things that Victoire knew was code for what were essentially trumped up charges. Despite Dom, Victoire, and Stephanie all arguing with the officers in French, both former women were practically manhandled into a separate room that was definitely used as an interrogation room in normal cases, while Stephanie was escorted out of the building.

Victoire called out instructions for Jérôme's care right up until the officers shut the door and locked her and Dom into the room, while next to her Dom had alternated between yelling at the officers and instructing Stephanie to get them help from anyone that wasn't their mother.

It wasn't until Victoire was well and truly locked in a French law enforcement holding room with her sister that she had time to come to terms with what exactly had happened in the last half hour of her life.

"What precisely just happened?" Victoire questioned her sister as she slowly sat down in one of the two chairs in the room.

Dom took a deep breath before summarizing, "Stephanie's friend was protesting a business that treats their LGBTQ+ employees terribly when he was attacked by an apparently well-connected and rich homophobe. He defended himself, but when law enforcement arrived the attacker played the victim and got Monsieur Leclair arrested instead. Stephanie asked me if I'd help and get the charges dropped, because it was going to take forever to get a public defender here on a Sunday afternoon. While I was discussing his case with him he started groaning in pain, and then that led to screaming, which led to Stephanie going to get you, and you trying to figure out what was wrong with Monsieur Leclair and then heal it. Once you did a brilliant job with that they decided to hold us and charge us with obstruction and other trumped up charges because they were afraid that we'd kick their arse before we could even get to Jérôme's sentencing hearing."

"Or maybe it was because _someone_ kept threatening to sue them," Victoire suggested sarcastically and with a heated glare at the redhead.

Dom plopped down into the other chair, "It's not a threat since I fully intend on going through with it."

Victoire pursed her lips, "You think you got a case for that?"

"I've got the basis for a case for everything that just happened: to get Jérôme's magical assault charges dropped, to get his trespassing and public nuisance charges dropped, to get him a settlement from a civil lawsuit for their infringing upon his personal and constitutional rights, and especially to get that supervisor fired with the homophobic words he's said and actions he's taken," Dom listed off.

The blonde sister nodded her head while faking interest, "Wow, well that sounds nice and dandy . . . but what about us?"

Dom rolled her eyes at Victoire's derision, "Remember two Christmases ago when we all went to that Christmas festival here and that attack broke out and you ended up providing emergency medical care to that bloke?"

"Yes."

"Remember how you didn't get in trouble for that because the French wizarding ministry has rules that protects first-responders at emergencies from getting sued by the injured person, no matter the medical care that they provide?"

Victoire let out a sigh, "Yes."

"Then don't worry, you'll be fine," Dom said with a shrug.

"While I appreciate the support there Dom, I wasn't talking about my little healing interlude. What I meant was whether that charge about us impeding an investigation is going to stick?"

Dom scoffed, "Why would it?"

"Because you stole the keys to the cell and then I received that stolen item and used it to illegally enter the cell?"

"So that you could heal an injured man!"

Victoire pinched the bridge of her nose, "They were still mad about it and told me not to do it."

"Did you forget that you were sorted into Gryffindor?" Dom asked scathingly.

Victoire ignored Dom's question and asked a question of her own, "And what was that about you not being a certified lawyer here? I thought you took those exams a few months ago?"

"I did," Dom replied, her tone suddenly sheepish as she glanced down at her hands, "But once I was done I got really busy with the biggest case Colton had ever assigned me to do on my own, and I just didn't get all of the paperwork and test scores in to the French legal association yet."

Victoire did have something to say about that, but unlike Dom she knew better than to bring it up when the tension in the room was still high, "Does Colton have anybody in the firm that's qualified in France? Because if he has to find someone through the grapevine that _is_ to come take our case, it's going to double the amount of time it's already supposed to take."

"Someone will come and help us eventually, and while we wait I'm going to have an iron-clad legal defense all planned out in my mind," Dom explained, she was still trying to act more nonchalant than she felt, but she knew that Victoire could see through it.

"You know," Victoire said as she exhaled very loudly, "The last thing Teddy said to me before I left for Gabrielle's this morning was that I shouldn't do anything that could get me arrested. Obviously he was just teasing me, but when he finds out about this he's not going to let me go out of the country by myself anymore."

Dom scoffed, "Like he would have done anything different if he stumbled upon someone in danger."

"The difference is that he'd have legal clearance to do so," Victoire reminded her.

"I was trying to help!"

"But are you prepared to handle the consequences? Because there will be some," Victoire remarked.

Dom glared at her sister, "Are you?"

"I've been down this road before Dom. You're the one who hasn't."

"And you don't think I can handle it?" Dom asked irritated.

Victoire stood up and put her hand on her younger sister's shoulder, "I think that you may end up with more than what you'd originally bargain for, and I don't want you to be shocked when you realize that this mess might not be as easy to clean up as you imagine it is."

"Well since we'll be here for the next couple of hours at least," Dom said, not making eye contact with her big sister but not sounding angry either, "I've got plenty of time to come to that reckoning."

Victoire sat back down on her chair and mused, "Do you think we would have gotten into this mess if we'd both been sorted into Slytherin?"

"I think if I'd both been sorted into Slytherin I would have had enough ambition to get my French qualifications in on time, I would have many more resources at my disposal right now, and I would have scared those tossers into dropping all charges before I'd even had the chance to talk to Jérôme," Dom said readily.

"And me?" Victoire queried with a small smirk.

"And you what?"

"Would I be in this mess if I'd been sorted in Slytherin?"

Dom put a blank expression on her face, "You mean you weren't?"

If Victoire had had anything resembling an aerodynamic projectile she would have chucked it at her sister. Dom could read the thoughts going on in her sister's head and she started to giggle. After Dom's giggling subsided the two of them spent the next twenty minutes in relative silence. Victoire had spent half of that time staring at her watch and idly watching the minute hand ever so slowly ticking by, while Dom had started to mutter a little under hear breath. From what Victoire could gather, Dom was coming up with her defense strategy and statements.

Just when Victoire had consigned herself to watching the face of her watch for at least another hour, the door to their holding room opened and one of the officers stepped in, "Your lawyer would like to speak to you."

The two sisters glanced at each other in surprise that Colton had managed to get someone to them so relatively quickly, but before they could verbalize anything a tall man with dirty blonde hair walked into the room.

"Good afternoon ladies, lovely to see you again Victoire," The man said wryly in French as he held out his hand to the oldest sister and the one that was standing closest to him.

Victoire shook it but then she rolled her eyes and leaned forward to give the lawyer a kiss on both cheeks, "I've had better afternoons actually Greg."

Greg Line chuckled as he returned Victoire's cheek kisses, "So I can see."

When they pulled away from each other Victoire eyed the familiar blonde man interestedly. Greg Line was a cousin of her friend Kyle Line. Greg had been raised in France and the two had met for the first time when Sandra Collins and Kyle Line got married, because Greg had been one of his cousin Kyle's groomsmen while Victoire was one of the bridesmaids. She had only see and heard about him sporadically after that, mostly from Sandra and Kyle's updates, but she had easily recognized him since he hadn't changes much in looks from the last time she saw him. What she knew of Greg was that he was a lawyer who worked in the legal department of the French-based scion of the business that Kyle's father owned.

"Who sent you here?" Victoire asked curiously.

"Sandra owled me about twenty minutes ago and said she needed my help on a legal matter," He explained, "Obviously when I found out exactly what that legal matter was I found it too interesting to say no to it."

Victoire pursed her lips, "I thought your law specialty was business contracts and other deals?"

"It is," He said with a nod, "But lucky for you two and your little issue here, the right amount of money exchanging hands can turn this into a business deal."

The oldest sister frowned at hearing his words, and as her mind puzzled through it Greg turned to Dom and belatedly greeted her and shook her hand.

"Nice to see you again Greg . . . I think the last time we saw each other was at Kyle and Sandra's wedding reception."

"I believe it was, although a lot of that night is a blur after the dinner ended because I drank a little too much," Greg told Dom as he absentmindedly scratched the back of his head.

Dom made a noncommittal humming sound and mumbled under her breath, "Not enough from what I remember."

Victoire was the only one to hear the words, and when she did it unfortunately reminded her that the last time Dom was around Greg, she and Spencer had been arguing over who would get to take him home at the end of the night. She grimaced at the memory and decided to hurry things along before Greg's memory of the evening could come back to him.

"So how much longer are we going to be stuck here?" Victoire asked Greg professionally.

Greg smiled, "I'm here to break you out actually. You guys can leave with me right now."

"So they're going to let us out on bail?" Dom questioned.

"I got your charges dropped," Greg said as he walked back over to the closed door of the room and knocked on it to alert one of the officers.

Victoire looked a little surprised, "Really?"

"I told you they didn't have a case," Dom reminded her sister.

"I still figured that they would make it difficult for us and keep us for a few more hours. I didn't expect Greg to get us out in under a half hour," Victoire replied.

Greg smirked, "I told you, when it's a business deal it all works out."

An officer opened the door then and Greg gestured for both women to file out before him. The officer led the three of them back to the building's main reception area where the law enforcement supervisor and three other men that weren't dressed in uniform robes were having a conversation. Their conversation stopped immediately when the supervisor spotted Dom and Victoire, and the three men Victoire didn't recognize glared at her and Dom.

"Ready to leave already Monsieur Line?" The supervisor asked Greg directly without even bothering to acknowledge Victoire and Dom.

"Indeed I am," Greg said congenially as he reached into the pocket of his dressy-casual jacket and pulled out a check book, "I'd like to thank you again for making it easy to come to an agreement on how to handle this process."

As he said the words he wrote out a number that Victoire couldn't quite see on the check and ripped it off and handed it to the supervisor in a very sly way as they went to shake hands.

The supervisor smiled, "And thank you for being so accommodating, and for this _donation_."

"Of course," Greg said as he slid his check book back into his pocket, he glanced quickly at Dom and Victoire to make sure that they weren't going to say anything that would interrupt how well their escape was going, "And feel free to contact me later so we can talk more about a donation for your future campaign for the wizengamot."

The supervisor smiled smarmily, "Wonderful."

Greg then turned to Victoire and Dom, placed a hand on either one of their lower backs, and ushered them out of the building. At the bottom of the building's front steps, Sandra Line stood rigidly as she waited for them to get to her.

"Thank goodness you both are alright!" Sandra said as she pulled both Victoire and Dom into a hug.

Victoire squeezed her best mate back tightly, "Thank you for contacting Greg for us."

"Of course, I'm just glad that he was able to work everything out," Sandra said as she nodded gratefully at Greg.

"How did you get everything sorted so easily?" Dom asked Greg with a raised eyebrow.

Greg put his hands in his pockets and then began to explain. He told them that when he first entered the law enforcement building he overheard someone (one of the men without a uniform) discussing with the supervisor how large their next donation to the law enforcement retirement fund would need to be to ensure that his client's name would not be mentioned aloud if Monsieur Leclair's arrest ended up going to a public trial. Greg realized very quickly that he could use his very specific skills of making business arrangements and deals to get all of Victoire and Dom's charges dropped, and that it would only cost a few hundred galleons. Once Greg had implied to the supervisor that Victoire and Dom were not without valuable resources of their own, it was easy to come to an agreement that would get them out of their holding room, and most importantly out of the supervisor's hair.

"The catch though is that Dom's no longer allowed to be Monsieur Leclair's legal counsel since she is unqualified in this country to do so," Greg explained.

"But I can't just leave him in that cell!"

Greg waved off Dom's concern, "Which is why I was also able to make a deal for him. Unfortunately at this point his charges could not get entirely dropped; but I did get him released on bail and to the nearest hospital for appropriate medical care. I've contacted a well-renowned civil rights lawyer that I initially took my law course with and she's agreed to take over his case."

"Stephanie's at the hospital with Monsieur Leclair right now," Sandra added helpfully.

Victoire's mind was spinning with all of the new developments, "Let me know how much that check you wrote and everything else was Greg, I'll repay you of course."

Greg held his hands up, "Sorry but you'll have to take this up with Sandra, she already told me to pay whatever was needed to get you and Dom out and that she'd repay me for it."

Victoire glanced at Sandra with a raised eyebrow.

"Oh don't give me that look," Sandra replied with an eye roll, "I can easily afford it."

"Well so can I," Victoire reminded Sandra indigently.

Dom snickered, "Yeah what else would she use all of her Tri-Wizard Tournament winnings for but to bail herself out of jail?"

Victoire and Sandra both ignored her.

"We can discuss this at another time Vic, right now we should probably head back to your party so that you can finally say goodbye to all of your guests and so that your mother can finally beat out of you two where exactly you've been for the past hour and a half," Sandra reasoned.

Victoire gave Sandra another big hug, and then she and Dom thanked Greg again for negotiating their release. He gave all three women cheek kisses and then told Sandra to say 'hello' to Kyle for him when she portkeyed home that evening.

"So where _does_ our mother think we've been?" Dom questioned Sandra as the three women walked towards the apparation point down the street.

Sandra shrugged, "I'm not sure, last I heard Alexandrie and Ally said they'd run interference for you, but I'm not sure if they were able to keep it up the entire time."

"So we have to come up with a tale of our own to spin?" Dom asked.

Sandra smirked, "It's either that or tell her the truth."

Victoire and Dom shared a look, "_Merde_."

* * *

**A/N:** So please let me know what you thought about this chap because it's definitely one of the more serious chapters I've written for this new story, but once I started writing this chapter it took such a specific shape that touched on a few very important and topical issues that I personally care about, that I didn't want to change the tone, although there are a few bits of levity in it.

Obviously there are a lot more aspects of these issues that I've only just touched the surface of, but I hope I did it properly without making it seem as though I'm just trying to "capitalize" on real issues of injustice that affect a lot of people.

I would like to make it apparent that I know that it's unfair that Victoire and Dom got off easy because Greg essentially paid for their release, but that was the **point**. As much as they try to be good people and do good things for others, they were still born into positions of privilege and opportunity that not everybody has. This is just the first chapter touching this topic, but you will see later on that the girls are going to have to come to terms with their privilege and decide how they feel about how everything went down.

**Next Update:** I'm thinking it two weeks.

**Next Chapter:** A little aftermath from the events of this chapter, Vic tries to find out what happened to the funding from Lycanthropy support services, and Teddy does a bit more training with Jilly.

I want to thank everyone who has followed, favourited, read, and especially reviewed this story!

(Just a reminder to leave a please leave a pseudonym or identifier of some sort if you're leaving questions in a guest review so that it makes it easier to reply to them here:)

Biggest thank-yous to:

**audrey3horses, Break This Spell626, Gnool, saagarika, NicoleTheSmith, Guest (1), Guest (2), Eliza, Jily71102, LilyGinnyLunaMcGonagall, Dthea33, Guest (3), Strangerdangerbaby, Guest (4), no cure for crazy, **and** rosesnlilies**.

**audrey3horses**: Don't worry, last chapter wasn't the end of James/Selene interactions.

**Guest (4)**: Cecilia's charity will be mentioned at some point, it just hasn't come up quite yet.

**NicoleTheSmith**: You're welcome.

**Dthea33**: Andromeda wasn't specifically mentioned just because there were so many other characters that needed to be in there for specific purposes. I think it's safe to assume that Teddy's told Victoire about the author, but that it just wasn't done in writing.

**Guest (2)**: While Ginny wasn't in England to spy on James's last training session with Selene, I think it's safe to assume that she and Harry will be spying on at least one of them before James's skills are able to get up to scratch.

**Strangerdangerbaby**: That seems like a pretty achievable life goal ;)

**I hope everyone found this chapter interesting and captivating,**

**If you have any questions, comments or concerns PLEASE reach out to me,**

**You can leave a review or a PM if you want to communicate privately,**

**This chapter was a bit of a change in tone so please let me know your thoughts,**

**Until next time, DFTBA!**


	14. New Problems and Solved Problems

**A/N:** Hello everyone, I know this update is late, but I had a few extended family health issues in the past few weeks (non-Covid-19 related) so I was a busy bee.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own _Harry Potter._

* * *

**Recap:** Vic and Dom got arrested in France when they ditched her bridal shower to help bail-out and heal an acquaintance of Stephanie who'd been wrongly arrested. Kyle's cousin Greg got them out of it by practically paying off the officers.

Teddy and Jilly are still training trainee aurors and Teddy's helping an author who wants to write a fictional novel about an auror.

Victoire arranged for a meeting with a representative of the Lycanthropy Support Services to find out why funding for lycanthropes is dropping.

* * *

**New Problems and Solved Problems**

**Monday, April 29th 2024**

**6:42 AM**

Victoire slowly pressed kisses to the sleep-warmed skin of Teddy's shoulder, her mouth following a slow languid trail across to his collar bone and then up his throat. When she reached the edge of his jaw the light stubble that had grown in over the night began to tickle her lips and she let out an unintended giggle. She tried to keep most of the sound from her laughter in, but in the process it caused her body –which was pressed right up against the bare skin of his back and shoulder– to shake with her controlled giggles.

She wasn't quite sure if it was her kisses or the sudden shaking of her body, but when she glanced up at her fiancée's face she saw that he had woken up from sleep and his eyes –which were presently a startling violet– were watching her carefully.

"You would have failed stealth and tracking," Teddy's voice, hoarse from slumber, told her with a bit of a sardonic tone.

Victoire hid her smirk in the prickly skin of his jawline, "But I would have more than made up for it with my fabulous investigative skills."

Teddy shifted his face a bit so that he could lean towards her and press a soft kiss to her lips, "Are you still planning on going to the Department for Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures today?"

"Yes, the lady at the Lycanthropy Support Office made the mistake of arranging a meeting for me with one of her supervisors," She replied as she pushed his shoulders down onto their bed and threw one leg over one side of his stomach so that she could straddle his waist.

His hands slowly trailed up her legs and just skirted the edge of the overly-large quidditch shirt she'd fallen asleep in the night before so that they could encircle her waist, "That is a very big mistake on their part. They've got no idea what's coming at them."

One of his hands left her waist and trailed up her back, "Are you going to give them Hell today?"

"Absolutely," Victoire replied as she leaned forward to press a lingering kiss to his mouth.

Teddy kissed her back passionately and his hand that was still around her hips dug its fingers into her waist. She could feel the press of his finger nails biting into her skin, most of the force of his nails dulled by the fabric of her t-shirt, and her own fingernails dug into the firm muscles of his shoulders and upper back. As they continued to kiss his hands began to bunch up the fabric of her t-shirt in a way that signalled that he was about to pull it off of her.

Victoire pulled away before either of them could go farther in undressing the other, but when she spotted the pout that immediately slipped onto his face from her retreat she began to question why she was pulling away. Just when she was going to continue what she'd interrupted, a memory form the night before slipped into her mind and reminded her why she had pulled back in the first place.

"About last night-"

The initial pout on Teddy's face turned into a slightly more inscrutable look, "I thought we discussed everything we needed to last night before we fell asleep?"

"I was just worried that after a night's rest and so more rumination-"

Teddy's hand moved up to cup her cheek, "I already told you that I'm not mad at you for getting arrested."

"But are you _sure_?" She asked him as she bit her lip worriedly.

His thumb gently stroked her cheek, "You have a humongous heart and a sense of responsibility that is, sometimes, larger than it needs to be and these are some of the many things that I love about you. While I might wish that you think your actions through a little more often than you normally do, I'm not going to be angry at you for being yourself. For being the woman I love."

Her eyes watered a little at his loving words and she leaned forward to press a grateful kiss to his lips, when she pulled back she gave him a watery smirk, "And I must say that your vow writing has gotten much better over the past few months."

"So you like it enough for me to add it in then?" He asked her with a bit of a smirk of his own.

She laughed but when her thoughts travelled back to the night before once more she groaned loudly, "_Ugh_, if only _Maman_ would forgive me and Dom as quickly as you did."

"It was less about you lot getting arrested and more about you ghosting your bridal shower without a word for over an hour," He reminded her as one of his eyebrows –at the moment a pale red in colour– rose up over his still violet eyes.

His hands moved back to fiddling with the edge of her sleepwear and he gave her a look that very clearly indicated he was asking permission to continue with their previous activities.

She smiled at him and then another thought from her busy day before popped into her head, "Oh, and there's something else I need to tell you from yesterday."

"Did you get into another argument with Gisèle?"

Victoire rolled her eyes, "No –although Noëlle did– but that's not what I was going to say. What I was going to tell you is that Charlotte Cabrera is four months pregnant."

"Good for her and Dimas," He replied a bit of a pained expression on his face that she felt mirrored in her own heart.

She nodded her head slowly, "Yeah, good for them."

"It's kinda bothering you though, isn't it?"

Victoire sighed and leaned forward so that she could rest her cheek on his bare chest, "If I say yes does that make me a bitch?"

"No, I get that this is a lot. First Jilly and Anastasia, then Nadia, and now my ex-girlfriend."

She burrowed a little closer into his warm skin, "I'm happy for all of them, I am. But I'm also really envious and-"

"And that's an emotion that you're not used to feeling," He replied for her as he ran a hand through her long hair, "Because you Love, are used to getting everything you want. You work hard for everything you want, but when it comes to things that you _can't _be in charge of, you have a hard time accepting it."

Victoire pressed a kiss to his sternum, "Another thing you love about me?"

"You _are_ fierce in your convictions."

She moved so that she could look him in the eyes, "And so are you, which is why we bump heads sometimes, but it's a part of you that I'd never change."

He leaned forward to kiss her on the bridge of her nose, "And I can see that in your vow writing practice, you still prefer practical over flowery."

"I'll work on it, Cecilia said she'd help me," Victoire replied with a wide grin.

"So I get to enjoy the addition of quidditch stats to your vows then, lovely," Teddy replied with a smirk of his own.

She grabbed his left hand with hers and ran the tip of her finger across his bare ring finger, "Exactly two months from today."

"_Mmmhum_," He hummed his agreement.

"Why are we waiting so long again?" Victoire asked him.

Teddy let out a long sigh, "Because the younger kids don't finish Hogwarts until the twentieth of June and for some reason we thought it would be nice to invite them to it."

"Yeah . . . I do kinda miss the little monsters actually," She remarked.

He stroked her hair, "Well it's a good thing we'll see them this week then."

That week's upcoming Thursday was May second, Remembrance Day for the wizarding world. Since there was always a large ceremony on Hogwarts ground where ministry officials and veterans of the war would made speeches, she was guaranteed to see her four cousins left at Hogwarts since everyone from the family always went to the ceremony. With Remembrance Day always came a few more issues that Victoire would prefer to never have to worry about, or really think about for the matter. Even though she knew that after twenty-five years of life she should be over it by now, she had a hard time with May second every year. Except for that year she was unconscious at St. Mungo's after being rescued from Peru; that year went by relatively smoothly.

After Teddy's reminder about the events later in the week Victoire got quiet. Normally he would have tried to tease her into a better mood, but he had to get up and get ready for work and she had to get ready for her meeting at the ministry.

By the time Victoire stepped off one of the ministry's lifts and onto the floor that housed all of the offices connected with the Department for Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, she was back to herself and more than determined to figure out what was going on with the funding for the Lycanthropy Support Office. The lady at the front desk recognized Victoire right away and escorted her past the reception area and towards the offices. She escorted Victoire into the office of a woman whose nameplate read Mrs. Newhart, and then closed the door behind the blonde.

Victoire eyed the cramped room filled with stacks of parchment and files before she introduced herself as Healer Weasley to the forty-something year-old woman who was sitting behind the cluttered desk.

"I believe that Caroline told me that you wanted to speak with me about the changes to the funding for the Wolfsbane subsidiary program and the post-moon treatment program?" Mrs. Newhart asked Victoire after she gestured for her to sit down in the seat across from her desk.

Victoire nodded her head, "Yes, I've just recently been informed that what seems like rather drastic changes have been made to the eligibility requirements for the subsidiary program specifically, and that almost all funding for post-moon treatment has also been cut."

"Unfortunately Healer Weasley your information is correct. Our head of department noticed that during the last quarter our expenses went up dramatically and that we needed to decrease them by cutting funding for unnecessary programs," Mrs. Newhart explained with an expression on her face that told Victoire that she didn't necessarily agree with the funding cuts.

"And Mr. Isaksen has deemed the Wolfsbane subsidiary program unnecessary?" Victoire asked as she said the head of the Department for Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures's name with derision.

Mrs. Newhart pursed her lips, "The Wolfsbane subsidiary program has not been defunded completely; we've just changed the criteria. We've made it so that people who can afford the potion on their own each month if they're just a little smarter with their money are no longer eligible for the program. This leaves more money for the people whose incomes are actually too low to afford any other way, and this way we can increase the room of lower-level income people in the subsidiary program."

Her recitation of her words was rote, as if she's been made to memorize them so that she could repeat it.

"Even people's whose income may make it seem as though they can afford the potion _if they save a little_," Victoire repeated scathingly, "Can have unexpected expenses that make it difficult to afford to buy a Wolfsbane potion out of pocket each month. These people have living arrangements to pay for as well as food, clothes, spouses and children; are you really going to make a person who is suffering from a horrible and painful disease, through no fault of their own, choose between purchasing medication and another fundamental human right such as food or clothing?"

Mrs. Newhart picked up a quill and absentmindedly started to fiddle with it, "I appreciate that this is a subject you're passionate about Healer Weasley, but we're trying to make choices that will best aid the most people with the limited resources we have."

"Like cutting all of the funding to the after-care program?"

"Those potions and salves obtained with those funds were considered superfluous and it was considered a better choice to cut that funding so that we can put it back into the more important Wolfsbane subsidising program," Mrs. Newhart explained.

Victoire frowned, "If all of that funding from the _unnecessary_ post-full-moon care program is now going into the subsidizing program then why do you still need to make cuts?"

"Because we've had a sudden increase in clients for the program. In the past few months we've had several more names added to the subsidizing program, and all of them have incomes so low that they wouldn't be able to afford the potion without the program," Mrs. Newhart clarified.

Her words reminded Victoire of something else she needed to ask before she left the office, "I heard that a lot of names were suddenly added to the list in the last few months and that's something I'd like to discuss."

"I can't give you any specific names Healer Weasley-"

"Oh I'm not asking you to infringe on these people's confidentiality; I'm concerned about the process. Everyone who goes on to the subsidiary program needs to be recommended to it by a healer and as one of the few Healers from St. Mungo's D. A. R. ward that is qualified to do so, I can say that I haven't come across anywhere close to this many new cases of lycanthropy in the past few months," Victoire told Mrs. Newhart.

This time Mrs. Newhart didn't have any pre-rehearsed answers, "That–that does sound a little weird I will admit . . ."

"I know that you can't tell me who these new additions are, but could you maybe take a look and see which medical institution they were recommended by? If all of these new cases of lycanthropy are going to a different medical clinic instead of St. Mungo's I'd like to know why in case there is a perceived problem with how we deal with these cases," Victoire explained.

Mrs. Newhart considered her request for quite a while before she decided to open her desk door and search through a few of her files. Victoire was quiet for a while as Mrs. Newhart spent several minutes searching through a lot of her files. As she looked through the files she pulled out the odd one and created a stack of them on the only bare space left on her desk. She closed her desk drawer and then flipped through the files on her desk, spending more time than before as she scanned them. By the time she got to the end of the files she frowned.

"This can't be right."

"What's wrong?" Victoire asked her, she was suddenly much more alert.

Mrs. Newhart was re-flipping through her files, "All of these new clients that joined the program over the past two months have a blank where the specific hospital or medical clinic's name should be."

"They weren't associated with any distinguished medical or healing clinics?"

"It says they were all recommended by a private healer," Mrs. Newhart explained as she continued to read through the files.

Victoire frowned puzzled, "They were all recommended by a private healer for the subsidising program? How can they afford a private healer's fees but not a Wolfsbane potion each month?"

"It seems they were all recommended by the same healer," Mrs. Newhart said.

Victoire sat up so that her spine was ramrod straight, "What's the name of this healer?"

She wasn't quite sure if Mrs. Newhart would actually tell her the name of the healer, but she was glad to see that she seemed to be leaning towards giving up that important piece of information.

"It says here that the healer who signed off on all of these clients' applications for the subsidy program is one Healer Malachi Fabius."

Hearing the name made Victoire press her lips together into a firm line and she did her best to tamp down the emotions of anger and irritation that were starting to fill her.

"I'm sorry Healer Weasley," Mrs. Newhart began, "But I can't tell you anymore about these individuals or this other healer-"

"Don't worry about that, I won't need any more information. Thank you for your time and your help Mrs. Newhart," Victoire told the woman as she got to her feet and held her hand out to the woman.

Mrs. Newhart shook her hand, "I'm sorry that I couldn't give you better answers about the funding changes besides the basics."

"It's fine, although I do think I can offer you some help," Victoire reached into the pocket of her blazer and pulled out her business card, "I'm working on a research study at St. Mungo's that heals injuries caused by dark magic. We've already had progress with our spell healing some of the scars left behind from werewolf attacks and it's helped these patients' pain levels before and after the full moon a lot. Since this treatment is still technically in its experimental phase the cost for it is covered. It might be a good substitute for some of these people who can't afford after-care salves and potions anymore."

Mrs. Newhart nodded, "Thank you, I'll be sure to offer the option to my clients if they're looking for relief."

* * *

**11:45 AM**

"_Protego!_" Teddy yelled out as he flicked his wrist and threw the protection spell six metres away so that it would wrap around the back of an unsuspecting Jilly, who had been distracted by giving one of their trainees a tip on her full-body-bind curse, before an errant stunning spell could hit her.

The wayward stunning spell bounced off of Teddy's shield just as Jilly finally turned around.

"Where did that come from?" Jilly asked all of their trainees in a voice so stern that even Teddy felt a little scared of her despite that fact that he knew that he was pretty much the only person in the room that she wasn't presently ticked at.

Her question had caused everyone else in the large room to set their wand-arms down at their sides, causing the group's dueling practice to come to an abrupt halt.

"Well?" Jilly asked once more as she tried to stare down every auror-in-training in her vicinity.

The room was so quiet for a few moments that they could have heard a wand drop. Jilly continued to stare everyone down until the perpetrator finally broke-down. One of their aurors-in-training raised their arm up and admitted with a bit of a stutter that it was his fault.

"But I wasn't aiming at you Auror Donaldson, I was aiming for Frost but he dodged the curse and then it flew towards you. That's why you've got to be constantly vigilant, right?" The trainee auror's words came out a lot less like an apology and a lot more like an accusation.

Jilly heard it too and she crossed her arms over her chest and glared at the trainee, "You're right, being constantly vigilant is important. But so is watching the backs of your fellow aurors when you're in the middle of a raid or a duel, and this includes making sure that one of your spells doesn't ricochet off and injure your partner or even a nearby civilian."

"So you expect us to watch not only the spells that are getting thrown at us but also the spells that we cast that miss the criminals?" The big-mouthed auror in training asked.

Jilly rolled her eyes, "Yes, and if you don't think you've got the concentration for it then there's the door."

Despite Jilly helpfully pointing towards the door of the large room in which they were watching their trainees practice dueling, nobody took Jilly up on her offer.

Teddy broke the bit of awkward silence that had fallen across their trainees, "C'mon guys, by the end of the week you've got individual dueling practice with some of the qualified aurors. If you can't handle dueling practice with each other properly how do you think you'll do on Friday?"

Half of their trainees looked down at their shoes a little abashedly, while the rest hid their emotions better and just nodded firmly at their instructors' words. Jilly told everyone to get back to dueling and that she and Teddy would go around 'tapping' each trainee out so that they could start their break when they'd decided that they were showing a particularly good use of magic or skill. They were still going to allow each trainee their proper allotted amount of time for their break, but the trainees that did the best would get extra time as they'd be the first dismissed.

As Teddy and Jilly had noted over the past couple weeks that they'd been training the younger aurors, auror-in-training O'Toole was above and beyond the best trainee of the group. He was quiet and diligent during lecture work, and proved to be clever and skillful in their other hands-on exercises. That day wasn't the first that they'd had their trainees dueling, but it was the first time that they'd had such a long uninterrupted block to see how the trainees were able to handle several hours of dueling practice in a row. Watching all of the trainees in the same room made it clear that O'Toole was also the best at dueling, although he had a humbleness about him that was refreshing but also startling because it was so largely lacking in the man's older brother.

Teddy moved over to O'Toole and clapped the younger man on the shoulder after he cast an excellent binding spell on his dueling partner.

"You're free to go," Teddy said as he removed his hand from O'Toole's shoulder.

O'Toole cast the counter-curse for his binding spell on his dueling partner and then looked at Teddy, "Can I stay and continue to practice until it's time for our break?"

"As commendable as that is, it's also important to take a break and recharge for the next session. Trying to give one-hundred and ten percent is great, but it'll wear your battery out real quick and it'll make it hard for you to continue to give even fifty-percent when it'll be most important," Teddy told him seriously.

O'Toole exhaled slowly but he did mutter something about how he could go for a cup of tea at least. Teddy nodded his head in the direction of the door as O'Toole moved in that direction, but before he could take a few steps there was a groan of pain from the other side of the room and Jilly's voice –loud with irritation– beginning to ask a series of questions. Teddy followed the sounds of the commotion and pushed through the wall of trainee aurors who had stopped their own dueling to watch, and saw Jilly standing with her arms angrily crossed against her chest above two trainees who were kneeling on the floor. One of the trainees had a large and deep laceration to her leg while the other was knelt down next to her muttering apologies.

"What's going on?" Jilly asked again, this time her voice loud enough to break through the apologies of the one trainee.

"My _Altumis Conscidistium_ curse hit her and made that cut on her leg-"

Jilly interrupted the trainee, "Your _what?_ Why in the world would you use a curse like that when we specifically told you to only use non-body-mangling spells?"

"I told him to cast the spell," The trainee with the injured leg told Jilly in her dueling partner's defense, "I was planning on throwing up my shield charm to protect me and I thought the strength of it would be impressive and-"

"And this is what happens when we lose focus of the main objective and decide to show-off," Jilly berated in a tone that Teddy idly mused was going to get a lot of use in a few years once her child was older.

She glanced at all of the trainees around her to make it clear that her words were for all of them, and then back to the two trainees still kneeling on the ground, "Heal her up and then get back to practice."

"Uh . . ." Both trainees mumbled as they stared at each other wide-eyed.

Teddy noticed their shared glance, "What's the problem?"

"I don't know how to heal that," The trainee who had cast the spell admitted.

The trainee with the injured leg let out another low groan of pain, "I don't know how to either."

Teddy knelt down to look at the trainee's leg, cast a stasis spell on it to stop the injury from bleeding at least and then frowned at both trainees, "This laceration didn't even hit nerve, tendon, or bone. This is simple to heal."

Both trainees avoided eye-contact with him.

"But you still don't know how to heal it?" Teddy asked.

They shook their heads ashamedly.

Jilly pinched the bridge of her nose and then glanced at all of the other trainees who were still standing around and watching the scene, "Show of hands, how many of you would be able to heal this injury?"

O'Toole raised his hand, it didn't surprise Teddy or Jilly, but then only two other trainees raised their hands in addition to O'Toole. That did surprise them.

"Did Aurors Smyth and Wentworth not cover medical first aid a few months ago?" Teddy asked the group in general.

The trainees looked at each other worriedly and then O'Toole raised his hand to answer the question, "Our stealth and tracking course took extra-long to complete because we had additional instructors come in from different countries law enforcement agencies to guest lecture on how their various landscapes and climates offer different challenges. Our medical first aid course ended up being a quick half hour test that was comprised mostly of knowing the counter-spells to curses and hexes."

Teddy and Jilly shared another unbelievable look and then Teddy cast two spells on the trainee's leg to heal the blood vessels that were injured and then heal the skin.

"Everyone can leave for their break now," Jilly announced to the trainees in a tired tone.

They all high-tailed it out of the room, and then Teddy and Jilly meandered out of the room at a much slower pace as they discussed the tragedy of their trainees' inability to heal simple injuries.

"I can't believe that Smyth and Wentworth just let them slide on their medical course," Teddy complained as they made their way back to their shared office.

Jilly rolled her eyes, "I can. Both Smyth and Wentworth are old school. They're manly men who would rather fight through the pain and get a healer to fix them up later instead of taking the time to learn how to heal a simple boo-boo that could actually help them in the situation they're in."

"I think that's a little harsh-"

Jilly scoffed, "But accurate. They weren't happy a decade ago when Shacklebolt first implemented the additional requirement for aurors to be versed in basic healing magic, so they're not going to strain themselves to teach it to their trainees."

"But it's important!" Teddy insisted as they entered their office.

"I know-"

"What's important?" Kurt Williamson asked curiously as he looked up from the paperwork he'd been staring at.

Teddy collapsed into his office chair, "For our trainees to learn basic healing spells so that they can heal themselves if they get injured."

"Isn't that why they added that to the curriculum like ten years ago?" Hayden Summers asked as he looked up from his own pile of paperwork.

Jilly sat down in her chair, "It seems that Smyth and Wentworth were a little remiss in covering that topic with our trainees."

"And let me guess, now Ted wants to bring Victoire or another D. A. R. ward healer in to give them a crash course in basic magical first aid so that they can properly grasp this important concept?" Hayden said tiredly.

Jilly chuckled, "Actually he hadn't gotten that far yet. Although now that you've suggested it for him there's nothing to stop him from arranging it."

"Well I'm glad that I'm not the only one who thinks it's a good idea," Teddy remarked with a smirk, "Tomorrow and Wednesday are probably too early to arrange something, Thursday's Remembrance Day, but maybe they can get someone in on Friday."

Jilly waved her hand airily at him, "I'll just leave this for you to handle, since you've got an in and everything."

Teddy nodded at her and then glanced beside him at Hayden's desk, "What are you guys up to?"

"Until we get an active case we're supposed to get caught up on outstanding paperwork and answer owled-in observances of dark magic use," Hayden explained.

"You can't actually be that far behind on paperwork though, you're usually only a day or two behind me in handing it in," Jilly told Kurt.

Kurt shrugged, "We're not. But if we don't catch a new case from those owled-in complaints after we finish the paperwork then we get to move on to writing notices about the next batch of convicts who are to be released from Azkaban after doing their time."

"Riveting," Teddy replied with another roguish smirk, "So you guys will be free later in the week to duel our trainees and prove to them that dueling skilled fighters is different than their own classmates?"

"Most likely, dark magic usage is usually lower the week of Remembrance Day so I doubt we'll catch a case in the next few days," Hayden told him.

Kurt and Hayden went back to their paperwork while Jilly left the room to get a caffeine-free cup of tea, and Teddy started to write up a request about bringing in a D. A. R. ward healer to teach their trainees healing magic so that he could get it signed and made official before he asked Victoire is she could arrange for her or Cassidy Hopewell to come teach it. Teddy had just finished writing his request when Auror McKenny knocked on their shared office door. Auror McKenny asked Teddy if he had some spare time available to be interviewed by Orrel Combs for his new book. Hayden and Kurt smirked at Teddy, they'd both been ribbing him about being the new main character in Orrel Combs next novel, but Teddy ignored them and told McKenny that he had some time before he needed to get back to duelling practice.

McKenny led Teddy to one of the smaller conference rooms where the author Orrel Combs was already situated with a few quills and parchment paper. They traded greetings as McKenny left the room, and then Orrel thanked Teddy about four more times for agreeing to help him flesh out his main character.

"Since I know that you are very busy Auror Lupin I will get right into my list of questions," Mr. Combs told Teddy.

The metamorphmagus nodded.

"So what made you decide to be an auror?"

"My mother was an auror, and both she and my father were members of the Order of the Phoenix. They both died during the last wizarding war. They gave their lives to make our wizarding world a place that would protect and respect all people. I admired everything they went through to try to make this world a better place and I wanted to be like them. I always did well with school, and having been around so many aurors growing up it made sense that being an auror was a path to that dream. I was a Gryffindor too, so bravery and protecting others kind of comes with the territory too," Teddy explained.

Mr. Combs wrote very quickly as Teddy spoke and then he took a minute to think over his next words, "That's quite the backstory, almost like something out of one of my own novels."

Teddy chuckled a little darkly, "Yeah it does sound dramatic, but most of the best stories are based on truth anyway, aren't they?"

"Indeed they are," Mr. Combs agreed, "So before you became an auror did you know how being a metamorphmagus would help you as an auror?"

"My mother was a metamorphmagus too and I knew that that gave her an edge when she was an auror. It helps with concealment and disguise and undercover work, but everything else I had to work on, on my own," Teddy explained.

Mr. Combs nodded, "Of course, of course. So have you been assigned a lot of undercover work because of your abilities?"

"I get a fair amount of undercover work, but like most aurors a lot of the cases are just caught by whoever was on duty or showed up to the crime scene first."

"Have you had many long-term undercover cases? Any in some interesting exotic locations?" Mr. Combs asked a little starry-eyed as he wrote down every word Teddy said.

Teddy pursed his lips as he considered how much he was allowed to say about specific cases he'd worked on, "I've worked on a few cases outside of England, but most of my undercover time is actually spent on domestic cases. Since I can change my appearance so frequently and so easily I'm more useful in this country where it's harder for me to blow my cover or be recognized than it is for most of my other colleagues."

"Good point," Mr. Combs said with another interested nod. "What's the longest you've ever gone undercover for?"

"Six months," Teddy explained, "It might have gone longer but then we had some breaks in the case and were able to work towards closing it before we had to stay there much longer."

Mr. Combs pursed his lips, "I understand that most aurors work in pair of partners, do you still do so when you're on undercover missions?"

"I always work the main part of the case with a partner, although sometimes I might be the only person undercover for a meeting or drop-off or such."

Mr. Combs was still writing when Teddy finished, and then his questions changed tracts a little, "This question is morbid, and feel free to choose not to reply if it makes you uncomfortable, but have you even been seriously injured or just-missed death while on a case?"

"I got a bad case of meningitis during that sixth-month undercover stint," Teddy said with a bit of a saturnine smile.

"Was it that bad?" Mr. Combs asked a little unbelievingly.

Teddy sighed, "The medi-witch on my case was concerned that if the disease didn't kill me, that it would still leave me deaf or with some sort of other additional health issues."

"And that's the closest you've ever gotten?"

Teddy nodded, "Yes. I'm rather good at dueling and defensive magic, so as of yet only disease has gotten to me."

Mr. Combs nodded, "I can work with that."

Teddy smiled wryly, "I'm glad."

* * *

**12:12 PM**

Victoire paced through St. Mungo's Dark Arts Reversal ward so quickly that the low heel of her ankle boots let out a click-clacking sound that echoed off the polished floors. The ward didn't seem too busy around Victoire, and she came to a stop just in front of the healing desk station where Healer Cassidy Hopewell was sitting with her head buried under her arms on top of the tidy work surface.

"Where's Fabius?" Victoire asked Cassidy without any preamble.

Cassidy lifted her head enough to get a glimpse of Victoire, and she flinched as Victoire began to tap her foot on the floor, "Could you keep your volume and high-heel clacking at a minimum please? Some of us are a little sensitive to sound today."

"Are you hungover from yesterday?" Victoire asked her colleague.

"Not technically. I took a Pepper-Up potion and re-hydrated properly, but the one side-effect from those potions that I always get is noise sensitivity," Cassidy explained. She rubbed her temple and then looked at Victoire with delayed surprise, "Aren't you supposed to be enjoying some time off? Your shift doesn't start until six."

Victoire crossed her arms over her chest, "I need to see Fabius."

Cassidy made another disgusted face, "Why do you want to see him?"

"I need to discuss something with him that might end up with me berating him soundly," Victoire explained.

"That sounds accurate," Cassidy said with a nod of her head. She regretted the motion a few seconds later and started to rub her temples again for relief, "He should be in his office. He doesn't have any specific appointments scheduled for the next few hours, so feel free to go rip him a new one."

Victoire snorted, "Thanks for your permission."

She patted Cassidy on the head as she walked by her, casting a short-term headache reducing charm on her as she did so, which caused her colleague to let of a groan of thanks. Then she kept course towards the direction where the full-time healers had their officers. She passed her office and then stopped in front of Fabius's and knocked very loudly on the wood of his door. He called for her to open it, but when he saw that it was Victoire he seemed to regret his choice to allow her entrance.

"Did you forget that your shift doesn't start until six?"

Victoire closed her door behind her, "Don't worry I know when my shift starts. I'm here to talk to you about something else that I discovered this morning when I went to speak to a liaison from the Lycanthropy Support Office of the Department for Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures."

"I've lost interest," Fabius told her as he glanced back down at the patient file that was open on his desk, "You know the way out."

Instead of leaving Victoire walked closer to him and slammed her hand down on the edge of his desk in a dramatic fashion that startled him enough to make him look back up at her, "We need to talk."

"Oh no, are you breaking up with me?" Fabius asked sarcastically and with a roll of his eyes since he was used to her histrionics.

Victoire folded her arms across her chest, "Did you know that the funding for the Wolfsbane subsidy program has changed because there's been a sudden spike in the last few months in the number of people being added to the list who need their potion subsidized?"

"Is there a punchline to this joke?" Fabius asked disinterestedly.

"And then I asked the liaison why so many people were being added to the list even though I couldn't recall that many new people being recommended to the program from a healer from _this _ward and this hospital," Victoire continued her explanation as if Fabius hadn't said anything.

Fabius sighed and fiddled with his quill, "What can I say to get you to leave me alone?"

Victoire continued to ignore him, she wasn't anywhere close to getting down from her soapbox, "All of the new people that had been added to the list however were recommended and signed off on by a private healer . . ."

Fabius dropped his quill and his disinterested expression changed to apprehension.

"And it turned out that the name of that private healer was one Healer Malachi Fabius," Victoire finished. She watched her colleague's face closely, "How's that for a punchline?"

"I don't really get it, but that's usually par for the course with your humour," Fabius told her as he worked to put a blasé expression on his face.

Victoire scoffed and sat down in one of the chairs across from his desk, "Would you like to explain to me your part in this situation? Or should I inform that liaison from Lycanthropy support services that she and her supervisor need to look into all of the files you signed off on because I have it on good authority that they're suspicious?"

"Signing off on subsidy forms for people infected with lycanthropy is not suspicious, if anything I thought you of all people would appreciate my trying to make the Wolfsbane potion more accessible for lycanthropes who wouldn't be able to afford it any other way," Fabius told her imperiously.

"I'm suspicious about where you found such a large group of new patients who suffer from lycanthropy, who've apparently never visited this hospital in the past few years," Victoire told him.

Her colleague avoided making eye contact with her, "It's all above board, don't worry. Just because I have resources that you don't doesn't mean that what I've done is unlawful."

"You'll understand that I'm going to need more information right? Indulge the partially trained auror in me and tell me all of the details on how you found yourself rubber-stamping applications for Wolfsbane subsidies," The blonde told him.

Fabius rolled his eyes, but he obviously believed that he did nothing wrong because he went on to explain to Victoire how he ended up wrapped-up in the situation. Apparently Fabius knew some people that belonged to some charity committee that Victoire had never heard of –not that Fabius was surprised to hear that she hadn't since he swottishly explained that he ran in very different circles from her– and a few of the people from this committee asked him to do them a favour. They said that as a charity endeavour they were trying to help a number of disadvantaged lycanthropes get on the Wolfsbane subsidy program by helping them through the paperwork and getting them all of the appropriate sign-offs. All they asked was for Fabius to sign-off on the paperwork where the healer was supposed to.

"So you're telling me that out of the goodness of your heart you worked extra hours doing a charitable endeavour that included examining several people with lycanthropy and then signing-off on their subsidy forms?" Victoire asked more than a little unbelievingly.

Fabius met her gaze this time, "I might not wear my brash chivalrous intentions on my sleeves like _some _healers here, but one of my reasons for becoming a healer was to help people. The people from the committee said that in return for a few hours of my time they'd even get their sponsors to donate money to our ward so that we can do more good work."

Victoire felt a little ashamed at so easily assuming that Fabius was up to something nefarious, "The amount of people added to the program in the last few months was a lot Fabius. It must have taken you forever to complete full physical exams on all of them . . . I would have gladly helped you and lightened the load a little."

Despite her words being delivered in a tone that was meant to diffuse the tension between them, Fabius broke eye-contact with her again and awkwardly picked up his quill again so he could tap it against his desktop.

"I didn't have to give all of them physical examinations. The lady who asked me to sign off on the paperwork understood how valuable my time is so she said she already had some medi-witches and wizards examine the lycanthropes and that I just needed to sign on their forms because they needed to be signed off by a qualified D. A. R. healer," Fabius told her his voice getting quieter and quieter as he spoke.

Victoire stood back up, "You didn't examine all of these people? Did you ever even meet all of them?"

"It wasn't necessary. The committee streamlined the process so that we could get more people in the program in the least amount of time possible-"

"Fabius are you listening to yourself? If I was saying the same thing to you right now you'd be owling the Ethics board before I could even finish!" Victoire told him in a raised voice that wasn't quite at a yelling tone yet.

Fabius stood up as well so that she wouldn't tower over him, "I'm not a complete plank Weasley. You know the process for getting into the subsiding program as well as I do. Before a healer-signs off, the person first gets a background check from Magical Law Enforcement and the Auror Department to make sure that they don't have a criminal background which would make them ineligible for the program."

"And all of these people had clear background checks?"

"All of their files already had an Auror Department stamp of approval," Fabius explained literally.

Hearing that calmed Victoire down a little bit, but she still thought that Fabius was stupid for signing off on all of that paperwork without meeting them, and she still thought that something about the whole situation was suspicious.

"I still think you handled this incorrectly-" Victoire was interrupted from berating Fabius by the sound of her mobile phone ringing.

She sighed heavily at herself for the interruption and dug into her pocket to pull out her phone. When she saw that it was her sister calling her she knew she had to take it.

"Hell-" Her greeting was also cut-off.

"_Come to the office right away. Greg's been here chatting with Colton for the past hour and they want to talk to us about our arrests_."

Dom finished her request –which was definitely more of a demand– and then ended the call without even saying goodbye. Victoire glared at her phone because her sister wasn't in the room, and then she glanced at Fabius.

"We're not done with this conversation, but unfortunately I'm required elsewhere."

Fabius gestured towards his office door, "Well don't let me stand in the way of someone who actually wants your company."

Victoire sent a grimace at her colleague before leaving his office and then the hospital so that she could apparate to Colton's law firm. It didn't take her long to get into the building and then to the floor that housed both Dom and Colton's offices. She didn't bother to check in with the secretary who gaped widely at her as she strolled by her, and she didn't even bother to knock on Colton's office door before turning the knob and walking right into the room.

"I got here as quickly as I could," Victoire informed the trio of people in the office in lieu of a proper greeting.

Dom who was perched on the corner of Colton's desk instead of sitting properly in a chair, glanced at her sister with pursed lips, "I didn't tell you exactly which office to come to."

"I took a wild guess," Victoire said sardonically before stepping towards Greg and kissing him on either cheek as a hello.

When she pulled away from Greg she glanced at Colton, "Hi."

"How're you doing after your frightening stint in the slammer?" Colton asked cheekily when he nodded at her.

Victoire smirked, "If I were to do it again I'd make sure that they put me in a separate holding room without Dom."

"Oddly enough being stuck with you was what I found the worst about the situation too," Dom replied with a lazy smile.

Greg glanced at Colton, "Are they always like this?"

"Only when they're in good moods," Colton replied sardonically. He cleared his throat, "Can we talk about your cases now?"

Victoire sat down in one of the chairs Colton had arranged in front of his desk, "I thought that because Greg got our charges dropped that meant that there wouldn't be any case?"

"Greg has ensured that you both won't be charged for impeding an investigation or contempt of law enforcement," Colton relied in a rehearsed manner, "However once all the dust was settled he was certain that they might try to stick some other charges on you two, if only to get Greg to write another _donation _check to get you out of trouble."

Victoire pinched the bridge of her nose, "And was Greg correct?"

"Unfortunately I usually am," Greg jumped into the conversation, "Since I am on record as your legal counsel, they informed me today that they intended to charge you with using an experimental spell on their detainee without the patient's permission."

"_Merde!_ Bloody again?" Victoire groaned.

Colton nodded, but instead of smirking at the mention of Victoire's past legal problems his expression was very serious, "Yes, which I found suspicious and makes us believe that they must have looked into your background and found out that you were reprimanded about this before, as they were so convinced that they would have a basis for this claim."

"My background aside, I _did_ use my spell on Monsieur Leclair without his informed consent," Victoire said defeatedly.

Colton locked his gaze with Victoire and then spoke very clearly and slowly, "That is the last time you are going to utter those words."

"Why?"

"Because, according to the statement Jérôme Leclair made this morning once the hospital staff felt he was well enough to speak to law enforcement, you explained to Monsieur Leclair exactly the procedure you were going to do on him and got his verbal consent in front of a witness before he passed out and you completed the healing procedure," Colton repeated in the same measured tone of voice.

Victoire narrowed her eyes, "And why would Monsieur Leclair say that?"

"He said that because before the hospital staff would allow law enforcement to speak to him, they allowed myself and his new civil rights lawyer to speak to him. I gave him advice on how he should go about giving the officers his statement, and he agreed that he remembered you explaining everything to him and getting his consent. He signed his name to his statement, and Stephanie Paquet signed hers as the witness that heard you explain the spell procedure," Greg explained.

"But they-"

Colton interrupted whatever Victoire was going to say, "They have now helped you a lot because they felt so grateful to you for healing Monsieur Leclair. They were so grateful that they wanted to protect you. If that protective instinct has maybe muddied their recall of the exact order of how events went down, well eyewitness testimony and recall is already known to have its flaws but law enforcement still puts a lot of trust into it."

"But isn't-"

Colton interrupted her again, "You're thinking like a Gryffindor right now and I need you to think like a Slytherin. I know Slytherin Victoire is in there somewhere, so if you could just let her out for a few minutes that'd be great."

Victoire looked at him clearly offended, "It's not like I have split personalities!"

"Sometimes it feels like it though," Dom muttered not-so-quietly from her spot on Colton's desk.

"The point Victoire, is that you need to think about yourself, because right now you're the person in trouble. Or you were the person in trouble until Monsieur Leclair and Ms. Paquet gave you a spot of help. Appreciate it and move on," Colton told her.

Victoire glanced at Greg to see if he agreed with Colton's assessment, and based on the calm expression on his face it seemed he did.

"So is that all then? Or is there more?"

Colton eyed her reassuringly, "That's all _you_ personally need to worry about. Now it's time we move onto Dom."

"Finally!" Dom exclaimed, "They wouldn't tell me anything about my case until you got here. Said they wanted a witness."

Colton exhaled, "French law enforcement has decided to charge Dom for attempting to administer legal advice without being properly qualified to do so in France."

To Victoire's ears his recitation sounded plain and without inflection, but Dom obviously heard something in her boss's voice that was enough to incite her.

"For the thousandth time, I was going to send the paperwork in . . . eventually," Dom muttered with a pout.

"And for the thousandth time in response, I'd reprimand you for taking so damn long, but the trouble you've already gotten into seems to be punishment enough," Colton replied.

Greg decided that it was up to him to explain it all if they were ever actually going to get past Dom and Colton's squabbling, "Since Dominique made such an . . . _impression_ on the law enforcement at that office in France they were pretty firm about this charge. Unfortunately for them, when they went to inspect Dom's qualifications yesterday and found her lacking a license to practice law in France, they were mistaken in their claim."

"So Dom is licenced to practice in France?" Victoire asked confusedly.

Dom pursed her lips, "No, I'm not. At least not without a bit of fancy legal work on my behalf I assume."

"You've assumed correctly," Greg told her with a nod, "When I explained to Colton about Dom's issue we decided that easiest step to take would be to get the charge dropped. And like with Victoire, the best way to get the charges dropped is to make the problem go away."

Colton jumped in here, "What I'm about to say will never be repeated again alright?"

Victoire and Dom both nodded.

"I sent Dom's paperwork in as soon as I heard from Greg that they wanted to charge Dom with this. Obviously she more than meets all of the criteria to be given her licence in France, it was just a matter of sending in her scores and pushing it through so that it could be processed right away," Colton explained.

"Even if you pulled –or paid for– these strings to help process Dom's paperwork today it will still have today's date on it, not yesterdays," Victoire pointed out.

Colton smirked, "Well Victoire it just so happens that enough strings were pulled to have last Friday's date written on the processing forms. Which makes sense of course because according to all of that paperwork that's when it was all sent in and processed."

"So as of last Friday I was licensed in France? I take it that because it was so recent when the law enforcement building checked my qualifications their system just hadn't been updated yet?" Dom asked sardonically.

"Correct, everything was already in with the appropriate governing bodies, but sometimes it takes a while to trickle down to the lower levels of law enforcement," Colton added with an imperious nod of his head.

Victoire glanced at Greg a little disbelievingly, "And you're alright with all of this?"

"This is sometimes how things go in the world of business law Victoire. We made a few deals, donated money to the appropriate hands, and made use of a few loopholes, it's best not to question it," Greg told her.

"But-"

Colton sighed, "If Gryffindor Victoire is courageous enough to boldly break the law so that she can save someone's life, than Slytherin Victoire's self-preservation instinct should be allowed to appreciate the effort people have gone to, to protect her so that she can keep doing brash and brave things."

"Fine," Victoire retorted as she tried to consider Colton's rather fair assessment of the situation, "I'll do my best."

"Sleeping on it might help," Greg offered.

Dom scoffed, "That's not going to happen, she's working the night shift tonight."

"You got any problems with this?" Colton asked his colleague.

"You mean besides the fact that I apparently needed two men to save me like a pathetic damsel in distress?"

Colton smirked, "Yes, besides that."

"Not really," Dom replied with a shrug. She pushed herself off of Colton's desk and then glanced at Greg, "And since all of the charges were dropped, Greg's technically no longer my lawyer right?"

Colton nodded, his eyes suddenly narrowed on her.

"Excellent," Dom said as she sidled up to Greg's tall form, "So there should be no impropriety with me asking you out on a date."

Greg smiled at her, "None at all. Although, unfortunately Dom, you're not my type."

"Not into redheads?" Dom asked breezily and unconcernedly.

"Not into women."

Dom nodded understandingly and was glad to have that very old question settled in her mind, "How would you feel about a hot blonde healer?"

"I told you that I'm not attracted to women and now you're trying to set me up with your engaged sister?" Greg asked her confusedly as he shot Victoire a look.

Victoire sighed. She had already almost made it to the door of Colton's office since she had intended to make it home and get a short nap in before her night shift that was to start at six, when she heard Dom and Greg's discussion. With the change in direction of the conversation she was suddenly worried that she was going to have to forfeit even more sleep in favour for helping Dom with some new crazy scheme.

"She's not talking about _me_."

* * *

**A/N:** I hope that you all enjoyed this chapter, it was mostly about Vic and Teddy but it mentioned several storyline threads that are still active.

I know this chapter was late, but since my job has to do with working with children, and since all of those jobs are closed down in Ontario because of Covid-19, I'm going to be laid off and practicing social distancing from home for the next two weeks at least and (more likely) the next several weeks at most. This should *crosses fingers* equate to more time for writing, because it really is my intent to keep this story going especially in this stressful time so I can do my part to try to keep everyone's spirits up and to try to entertain a little.

**Next Update:** As soon as I have it ready!

**Next Chapter:** We find out if Dom did actually try to set Greg up with *someone*, more about Teddy at work, Louis finds an interesting lead on one of his cases, we get introduced to someone very interesting from Victoire and Teddy's past, and Hayden and Kurt are given yet another reason why they should be very afraid of Victoire.

I want to sincerely thank everyone again who has followed, favourited, read, and reviewed!

BIG thank yous as always to:

**audrey3horses, NicoleTheSmith, Saagarika, Guest (1), Katia0203, Dakota1, Break This Spell626, LolaQueen, Jily71102, cjaben1, Guest (3), Guest (4), rosesnlilies, Elora Donovan, Norway, Guest (5), **and** Guest (6)**.

**NicoleTheSmith:** Trust me, we're not done with the Holmwoods yet . . as for whether something is a coincidence or not, you'll have to wait for the end of the story to find out.

**Guest (1):** Victoire's next birthday is coming up very soon, so we'll be able to see how she feels about them now and whether that's changed or not.

**Katia0203:** I appreciate your kind words. As a straight, white, middle-class female in a country colonized by my own ancestors, writing about a type of disenfranchisement it's very likely I'll never actually have to endure doesn't always quite feel like I'm doing enough, but I hope the more people discuss these sorts of things and the more people can 'see' situations like this at face-value will at least be a starting point to more serious and lasting social change down the line.

**Dakota1:** I always love suggestions, but you'll understand if I can't always replying with a specific yes/no answer to them. All I can say is there is still a lot left to this story.

**Elora Donovan:** Three weeks! Nice to know that's about the going speed, by the time this story's finished I might have an even month! It never occured to me that someone could have Siri reading this aloud (or other smart devices) and now I'm cringing a little at imagining some of my writing being read in a slightly robotic voice, and it messing up everytime there's a typo. ;)

**LolaQueen:** Glad to hear you're still with me, it may seem like the wedding is taking forever to happen, but there's a reason why we're focusing on a lot of stuff that happens before it does. You'll just have to be patient with me (which I see you're already inclined to be, so thank you:)

**cjaben1:** Two reviews! Lucky me ;) I love hearing suggestions and theories so keep them coming as long as you don't feel sad that I can't always directly answer all of them.

Lastly, I know that the world is in a very different and difficult place right now, and that it's really stressful for people who are trying to look forward and don't know what their lives will be like once this is finally all settled. I'm not sure how media outlets are handling the news of Covid-19 outside of Canada (and the US, but frankly watching news coverage from the US lately is almost enough to cause a rage apoplexy in me, so I try to limit it) but the health crisis we have now is not going to go away quickly and the impact of it on almost every aspect of society will last longer than the crisis itself.

How we handle these upcoming weeks and months and how we treat each other is going to go down in history right next to the technical facts and data of the disease, so it is important for everybody to act in a way that won't cause them deep regret later on. I'm not saying this to scare you, but to make sure that everyone is aware of the importance of following the directions of your province/state/country/territory sanctioned health officials and most importantly the World Health Organization (WHO).

Practice social distancing; wash your hands for 20 sec with soap and water; don't touch your face; cover your cough; DO NOT travel outside your country; self-isolate or quarantine if you've been out of the country, have been having symptoms, or have been incontact with someone who was out of the country; and please remember that this is a difficult time for everybody, so it's imperative that we all practice patience and kindness to those around us and to those who are more vulnerable than we are.

To those of you in areas of the world where they are getting hit much harder than we are at present in Canada, you have my deepest sympathies especially if you have been personally impacted by the Covid-19 outbreak. To those of you who are at this point still relatively healthy, please do everything you can to stay healthy and make safe and smart decisions.

I'll get off my soapbox now, but know that if anyone needs anything that it is within my power to give, you can PM me and I promise to respond back quicker than I update ;)

**I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter,**

**Please leave me your thoughts or any questions in a review or PM,**

**Please stay safe and make good choices,**

**Until next time, DFTBA!**


	15. Strong Emotions

**A/N:** Hello everyone, I'm super sorry that this update has been so late. I'm staying at home during this quarantine, and even though I'm laid off my mother is still working from home and I've become her unpaid intern/tech support/assistant. She doesn't require my help all the time, just each time I try to get back in the flow of writing. Although as far as inconveniences go, I'll take it.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own _Harry Potter_.

**Warning:** There's a little bit of language in here. Also, it takes a hard turn towards drama.

* * *

**Recap:** Vic and Dom got arrested in France for trying to help a man who'd been attacked and then arrested. Greg Line got them out of holding and then he and Colton got all of their charges dropped. Dom flirted with Greg only to find out she wasn't his type, and then she tried to set him up with someone else. Teddy and Jilly are still training their trainees and an author named Orrel Combs is spending time with Teddy because he plans to write a novel about a metamorphamgus auror. Louis and an MLE agent named Westcott had a cross-over a few chapters back with Kurt and Hayden as they all ended up addressing a call about a werewolf who apparently went through the last full moon without having access to the wolfsbane potion.

* * *

**Strong Emotions**

**Tuesday, April 30th 2024**

**5:53 AM**

"Can I get like triple the caffeine in that?" Victoire asked the guy in charge of the beverages at St. Mungo's canteen and tea room.

The man looked down at the cup of tea he had in his hand and frowned, "It's not even six am yet Healer Weasley."

"That's why I need at least double the caffeine, I need to make it seven more minutes until my shift is over," She explained as she took the cup from him.

He nodded, "Ah, night shift. My next question would be how you've made it through the night without visiting me until now."

Victoire tapped her fingers against the cardboard cup, "I've been trying to cut back on my caffeine consumption."

The man raised an eyebrow at her and gestured to the cup of tea she'd –only somewhat jokingly– asked to be infused with extra caffeine.

"Obviously it's been a rough road," Victoire continued.

He laughed with her and then wished her good luck with the rest of her shift. Victoire turned to take her cup of tea back with her to her ward floor when the door to the canteen opened and she ended up coming face-to-face with Healer Spencer Green.

"'Morning Spence," Victoire greeted her friend from healing school in between a loud yawn.

Spencer Green snapped his fingers, "Beauty Queen, just the incredibly smart part-veela I was looking for. Why did I get a really weird text from your sister yesterday at like three o'clock in the afternoon? I was in the middle of my shift so I didn't see it until later and by then I was worried about how I should reply."

Victoire groaned when she realized that even though she had convinced Dom to let Greg travel back to France without getting set up on a date, Dom still wasn't going to let the issue go.

"What'd the text say?"

"How would you feel about moving to France?" Spencer recited without having to even pull out his mobile phone to read it.

Victoire was grateful at least that Dom didn't come out too strongly in her message, "The truth Spence, is that Dom's got it in her head now to set you up with a bloke who lives in France."

"Is he cute?" Spencer asked idly.

"Extremely attractive. Do you remember Kyle Line's cousin Greg from Kyle and Sandra's wedding? The guy you and Dom were drunkenly fighting over at the reception?"

Spencer's eyes squinted a little as he tried to think through his memory to Kyle and Sandra's wedding from a few years ago, "Tall, blonde, strong jawline, spoke English without an accent?"

"Yes."

"I'd consider a first date but I'm not sure if I'd go so far as to say I'd move to France for him without at least finding out how much he likes early 2000's muggle pop," Spencer told her after he considered it for a few seconds.

Victoire shrugged, "Fair enough."

"Why would she assume I'd move to France anyway? I'm the healer that only speaks one language. He speaks English, why can't he move here?" Spencer asked dramatically.

Victoire pinched the bridge of her nose, "Why don't you ask him on your date?"

"Because that would make me seem clingy," Spencer replied as if it should be obvious.

"I've got two minutes left in my shift, I don't have the brain capacity to work in bizarre hypotheticals at the moment," She told him.

He pouted, "But I thought you were trying to hook me up?"

"Wrong sister. You'll want to speak to the redhead about it," She replied, "I don't have the time for one more thing on my plate."

Spencer looked at her worriedly, "Are you so sleep deprived that you're delirious? You love getting involved in _everybody_'s business."

"I'm trying to avoid some of those bad habits," She told him.

"You definitely need sleep," He assured her with an authoritative nod of his head.

Victoire glared at him, "Don't worry, I'll definitely get some at some point today."

"_Excuse me?_"

"I need to do some research into dark magic that could cause a man's internal reproductive system to essentially liquefy in his body; slowly sterilizing him and potentially killing him in the process," Victoire described.

Spencer automatically flinched upon hearing her words, "Who are you planning on getting revenge on?"

"It's for academic research," She replied with a roll of her eyes.

"I'm definitely missing something here. This is what happens when we don't get the chance to speak to each other for like three days in a row," He mused.

Victoire took a sip of her tea, "Did Cassidy or Sarah not tell you about my getting arrested on Sunday?"

"No!" Spencer cried, "I'm definitely missing something. What are you even-"

She sighed and interrupted him, "I'm not in the brain space for this right now Spence. Ask Cassidy or Sarah about it, both of them know enough about it to clarify it for you."

"Fine," Spencer pouted, "But you need some sleep before you start looking into dark curses that should never have been invented in the first place."

"Fine," Victoire agreed.

As much as she wanted to find out what spell caused Jérôme's injury –and whether there was a counter-curse for it that didn't involve her own spell– she had promised Teddy that she'd start taking better care of herself, and that involved getting at least a few hours of sleep in after she'd completed an all-night shift.

* * *

**9:38 AM**

Teddy glanced at Jilly and they shared a look and a sad nod before going back to watching their trainees duel each other. Since their practice the day before had been so abysmal, they had scrapped most of their classroom lessons for the rest of the week so that they could get their trainees the practice they so desperately needed. At the moment they made the trainees switch their duelling partners every ten minutes to keep them engaged and active.

"What do you think about making them duel in pairs, and then in uneven numbers next?" Jilly asked Teddy as she idly watched a pair complete a few minutes of duelling that contained mostly stunning and shield spells.

Teddy pursed his lips, "That sounds good, only I think we should make everybody else stand back and watch the groups that go up. It'll-"

"Put pressure on them to know that they're being watched and they'll work harder," Jilly finished for him, "I'm on the exact same page."

"Excellent."

"Would that not also put added anxiety on the duelers though to know that their peers are watching them?" Orrel Combs asked the pair of aurors curiously.

The author had asked Teddy if it was possible to shadow him a bit to get a feel for what he does on a daily basis. Teddy had explained to him that at the moment he was training the younger aurors-in-training and that it wasn't necessarily his normal routine, but Orrel didn't seem phased by that and asked if it was possible to watch. After getting permission from Auror McKenny –and Jilly, since Orrel would technically be watching her as well– Teddy invited the author to watch their duelling practice.

Orrel was very excited to be able to watch the duelling practice, specifically since he figured that it was the closest he would get to witness an actual auror fighting in the field. He also seemed to enjoy meeting Jilly and picking her brain on what it was like to be a female auror.

"The additional pressure is a good indicator of how they would react in the field when there would be a lot more pressure placed on them," Teddy explained to the author.

Orrel nodded understandingly and then wrote down some of his thoughts in the little notepad he had brought with him and hadn't yet closed during the entire duelling session. He then turned to Jilly, "So as far as being assigned desk duty because you're pregnant goes, how does training aurors rank on the list of desired assignments?"

"I was surprised to hear that this was an option, but I like the challenge that it represents. It also allows my mind and body to stay active which I would have missed being immediately assigned to desk duty," Jilly explained, "Working with Ted as my partner in training this lot is also a plus. We were in the same training courses and we've worked closely together over the years so we know we work well together."

"And how did you end up teaching the trainees Auror Lupin? Did they decide that they needed you more here than in the field?" Orrel asked Teddy.

Teddy smiled wryly at Orrel, "Actually I've been regulated to training duty because I'm getting married at the end of June and my supervising aurors wanted to ensure that I didn't get hit with an active case that could take me away for the next few months. They also wanted to keep the danger level at a low until after I get the chance to say 'I do'."

"That's very thoughtful," Orrel remarked.

"Or controlling," Jilly muttered under her breath only loud enough for Teddy to hear.

"Would you two mind dearly if I asked you some personal questions? I always wondered how aurors are able to fit romantic relationships into their lives since they have such busy schedules," Orrel asked the pair of aurors.

Jilly glanced at Teddy and told him that it was up to him to answer the questions first.

"Of course Mr. Combs," Teddy told Orrel.

Orrel smiled, "So you're engaged then Auror Lupin?"

"Yes."

"Do you find that keeping up a relationship is more difficult as an auror than it would be if you were in a different profession?"

Teddy pursed his lips, "Being an auror is a very big commitment and hard on the aurors and their families. Long periods of separation like my sixth month stint undercover was difficult, but I believed that we could survive it, and we did."

"Have you been with your fiancée long?" Orrel asked.

Teddy smiled softly, "We've been dating for seven years."

"That is quite a long time," Orrel remarked with surprise, "So you've both spent a lot of time in your relationship growing together?"

Teddy nodded, "Yes, and we were friends before we were in a romantic relationship so we've been through a lot together."

"That's very sweet," Orrel remarked, "Although not exactly dramatic or novel-level captivating. Is it too much for me to hope that your fiancée's got a glamourous occupation like being a Siren's Secret model?"

Jilly held in a snicker and Teddy smirked, "Unfortunately no. She's a full-time healer at St. Mungo's."

"So she's a smart cookie then?" Orrel queried with a friendly smile.

"Very smart," Teddy replied lovingly.

Orrel turned to Jilly this time, "And how do you and your husband make it work?"

"My boyfriend's almost as busy as I am with his job so there's no angst over my having strange work hours," Jilly explained.

Orrel jotted her words down on his notepad, "Interesting. Both your significant other and Auror Lupin's significant others work jobs where they're very busy in addition to your own busy schedules. Very interesting."

Teddy and Jilly shared a bit of a worried look, but before they could get too worried about what Orrel might do with their words, their attention was called back to their trainees as it was time to inform them of the slight changes they were going to make to the training exercise.

* * *

**11:45 AM**

Louis was just on his way to the floor's lift, so he could leave the ministry, when Agent Westcott happened upon him.

"Taking an early lunch Weasley?" Westcott asked in a tone of voice that Louis couldn't exactly decipher. It didn't sound accusatory, but nor did it sound completely nonchalant.

Louis figured it was best to be completely honest, "I'm actually heading out to a couple apothecary shops. I wanted to check in with them and see about Mr. Smedley's claims about wolfsbane potions going up exorbitantly in price."

"I thought I we officially closed that case last week when you finished the paperwork?" Westcott asked with another perfect poker-face.

The younger MLE agent nodded unabashedly, "We did, and I don't have any plans to reopen the case . . . but I thought that if I had a bit of extra time once I'd finished my morning paperwork that I could just do a bit of research at the apothecaries on Mr. Smedley's claims."

Agent Westcott pursed his lips, "Hmmm, that's a very straightforward notion. Would you mind if I joined you?"

Louis was slightly taken aback by Agent Westcott's question; he didn't expect to get in trouble for his actions –there weren't any rules against his plans, they were just a little unorthodox– but he also didn't expect Agent Westcott to suggest he join him.

Any personal feelings Louis might have felt for Agent Westcott aside, he knew that if an agent above him in the MLE hierarchy asked to accompany him on a task related to a case they shared, he didn't really have the option to say no. Louis nodded at Agent Westcott and they were both nearly silent as they travelled to the first apothecary on Louis's list.

There was a little tinkling bell above the door to the first apothecary door they opened, and it echoed loudly as they both walked through the front door. Louis introduced himself and Agent Westcott to the woman manning the front counter of the shop; Westcott seemed to have chosen to watch and stay out of Louis's way.

"Do you have a few moments to answer some questions for me?" Louis asked the lady after he slipped his badge back into his pocket.

The lady nodded and Louis jumped right into his questioning.

"I've heard that lately the price of Wolfsbane potions has gone up, is that true?"

The lady let out a long sigh, "We tried to only raise the price as much as was necessary, but it has increased by about fifty percent."

Louis's eyes almost popped out of his head, "By fifty percent? That's several galleons. Why has the price increased so much?"

"Last month our supplier for several of the plants needed to create the potion had a shortage. It cost much more money to receive the little that we would could get, so we needed to increase the price of the potion to account for the more expensive ingredients," The lady replied soundly.

"I understand," Louis began, it wasn't difficult to grasp the concept of supply and demand, "But was it not possible to get the ingredients from another supplier?"

The employee frowned, "That would have been easier, but unfortunately all of the other suppliers we were able to contact also had a shortage and they had a difficult time supplying plants for the contracts they already had let alone extra for us."

"So other apothecaries had the same issues?" Louis asked.

"Yes, as much as the price of our potion went up all of the other apothecaries in the area also increased their potion by that much because they also had trouble getting the same ingredients. The supplier said something about there being a difficult season for most of the plants necessary for the potion," The lady explained.

Louis collected all of this information in his mind, "What about this upcoming month? Will you be able to get more plants for the potions now?"

"No, unfortunately my supplier has even less than last month. I checked with all of the other suppliers and they're almost at zero as well. I've resorted to finding a new supplier from America, but it will cost more because I have to get them flown in and everything else," The female employee complained.

The blonde MLE agent hid his look of surprise much better this time, "Were there no suppliers in continental Europe that would be cheaper to get materials from?"

"Most suppliers in Europe gave me the same responses, their supplies had dwindled and whatever they had available was already spoken for. It seems that the shortage is going to be long-lasting."

"But these American suppliers are not having the same issues as the European ones are?" Louis questioned.

The lady sighed, "Some of them sounded as though they had problems as well, but one in specific said that their plants were still in good condition and that they would ensure to supply me with the amount I need, even though it might cost more."

"May I ask the name of this one supplier from America?" Louis asked curiously.

"I don't know if I can quite remember the name . . . but there's a business card here somewhere from them," The lady mused as she opened a drawer behind the counter and kept searching through it, "Ah, here it is."

She handed Louis the business card, and he read the words _Nova's Magical Conservatory_. The name rang a few bells in Louis's head, but he couldn't exactly pinpoint why. He made a duplicate of the card and shoved it into his robes before thanking the lady for her time and taking leave of her.

Agent Westcott followed after him quietly, and they apparated to another apothecary on Louis's list so that they could cross-check the first apothecaries claims with another one. It only took a few minutes within the second apothecary for Louis to realize that the owner had been in the same situation as the lady from the first apothecary: a dwindling supply of plants to make the Wolfsbane potion, an increase in the market price of the potion, a continued plant shortage for the upcoming batch of the potion, and no suppliers able to offer them the plants needed except for one _Nova's Magical Conservatory_ from America. Louis and Agent Wesctcott visited five more apothecaries, all of them describing almost identical stories, before Louis decided to stop and assume that all of the other apothecaries in Wizarding England were having the same issue.

In the alleyway next to the last apothecary they visited Louis pulled out his mobile phone and searched through his contacts for a specific name.

Agent Westcott leaned against one wall of the alleyway and watched Louis interestedly. Even though he'd been a constant physical presence during Louis's investigation, he had yet to intervene in any specific way.

"What are you doing now?" He asked curiously.

"I'm going to call my cousin Ally. She works as a potioneer at St. Mungo's and if St. Mungo's is also having a shortage of plants needed to make the Wolfsbane potion she would know," Louis explained before pressing the 'call' button on his phone.

Luckily for Louis, back at St. Mungo's Ally was in the middle of her lunch break so she had her mobile phone on her.

"_Hi Louis_."

"Hey Ally," Louis replied, "I've got a few questions for you, which might sound weird, but I'd appreciate an answer either way."

"_I'll do what I can,_" Ally's voice on the other end of the line replied.

"Is there a shortage of plants needed to make the Wolfsbane potion at the hospital?" Louis asked.

"_You're right, that does sound weird. My answer however, is no. We don't have a shortage, our supplier sent the exact amount we needed for this month_," Ally responded.

Louis pursed his lips, not that Ally could see, "And what supplier does the hospital receive their plants from? I've visited some apothecaries today and it turns out that a lot of them are having difficulty getting those specific plants from their own suppliers."

"_St. Mungo's has their own greenhouse suppliers that only supply healing hospitals and clinics. They don't supply commercial apothecaries_," Ally explained.

Louis thought that that was something at least, that St. Mungo's would be able to make Wolfsbane potions without the same problems the apothecaries were having.

"Alright, one more question. Have you ever heard of _Nova's Magical Conservatory_ in America?"

There was a pause on the other end of the mobile before Ally replied, "Oh yes I have! One of our potioneering students Kelly Green –she's actually Spencer Green's cousin from America– used to work there before she started potions school here."

Louis thanked Ally for her help and then hung up. Despite the new addition of Spencer Green's cousin having worked at the conservatory in America, Louis couldn't pinpoint why he'd heard the name of it before. Westcott couldn't give Louis any answers as to why he'd heard it before, but the younger MLE agent was still wracking his brains as he and Westcott apparated back to the ministry. They had just entered he lift to take them back to their floor when Louis's mobile phone began ringing.

He noted Ally's name on the caller ID before answering the call, "Ally did you forget some-"

"_Why were you asking about _Nova's Magical Conservatory_ Louis?_" Ally's voice snapped in a tone that sounded incredibly stressed out.

"It has to do with this shortage of plants to make Wolfsbane potions, why?" Louis asked.

He could hear a very heavy sigh issue from Ally's end of the phone, "_This isn't good_."

"What isn't good?"

"_I just asked Kelly about the conservatory, since you'd brought it up and everything, and as she told me stories about how she used to work there she mentioned that a very rich and powerful family were silent owners of the conservatory, and that that family is named Holmwood_."

Louis closed his eyes and groaned before they snapped open again and he moved his hand to press the lift button to take him to the Auror Department instead of the MLE offices.

"Don't worry Ally, I'm on my way to the Auror Department now. Is Kelly suspicious about the questions you were asking?" Louis said into the phone.

"_No_," Ally's voice replied with a smidge of relief even though she still sounded tense, "_She didn't seem to realize the significance of the family's name, and then she went on to tell me a humours story about a tourist who got too close to the _Brugemannisia."

Louis saw that the lift had almost taken them to the Auror Department, "Thanks for letting me know about this Ally. I'll call you later."

"_You better_," Was all she said as a goodbye.

His mobile was barely in the pocket of his robes before Agent Westcott finally started asking questions.

"Why are we on our way to the Auror Department now?" Agent Westcott asked with a raised eyebrow.

Louis met the gaze of the agent and remembered that the other man was only about six years older than her was, "You don't have to come with me, I've just discovered something from Ally that might mean this case is now Auror Department territory."

"If this case is now something important enough that you want to clue in the Auror Department than we can't just hand it over to them," Westcott argued.

"We don't need to argue about jurisdiction, this could be important-"

Westcott frowned, "Has anything happened that could be considered dark magic?"

"Not exactly–but if these certain people are involved then-"

Agent Westcott interrupted him, "Until dark magic has been confirmed it is still our jurisdiction. You're allowed to inform the Auror Department of information that may pertain to their own cases, but I think I should be with you to supervise."

Louis frowned but knew better than to argue with the more senior agent. The doors of the lift finally opened to the busy Auror Department and Louis stepped off onto the floor with Westcott following close behind him. Louis avoided the front desk that was placed just across from the bank of lifts and walked further into the department. He knew exactly where he needed to go.

When he got to the closed office door Louis knocked quickly two times and waited for one of the people inside to open the door.

Auror Hayden Summers opened the door and immediately looked at both Louis and Agent Westcott in surprise, "Something I can do for you?"

"I just found out about something that's connected to the Holmwoods," Louis told him without preamble.

Hayden's eyes hardened upon just hearing the name of the extensive wizarding crime family, "Come inside."

Inside the office already, and doing paperwork at his desk, was Auror Kurt Williamson, the other two desks in the room were empty. Kurt glanced at the two MLE agents with mild surprise as Hayden closed the door behind them.

"Give Kurt and I the details," Hayden told Louis as he grabbed a piece of paper off his desk and began writing down a quick note.

Louis cleared his throat and summarized, "I visited a couple apothecaries earlier today to see if there was any truth in Mr. Smedley's claim from last week that the price for the Wolfsbane potion went up. Almost all of the apothecaries told us that there is a continuing shortage of the plants necessary to make the potion, and that there are very few suppliers left in Europe that still have those plants in stock. Almost all of the apothecaries have needed to go to an American source to get their ingredients now, but it will keep the potion twice as expensive. This American supplier is called Nova's Magical Conservatory."

It didn't shock Louis to see that both aurors recognized the name of the conservatory before even mentioning its connection to the Holmwoods. Kurt frowned and muttered something under his breath upon hearing the name of the conservatory. Hayden had finished his note, folded it up into the shape of a paper aeroplane, and then sent it off out of the office to whoever was to be the recipient. It wasn't until the aeroplane was already gone that Louis realized that he might be sending a note to Teddy.

"I called Ally to see if St. Mungo's was also having a shortage of these ingredients, but she said that St. Mungo's has their own suppliers that are different from the commercial suppliers and that their stock was fine. I also asked her if she ever heard of Nova's Magical Conservatory, and she said that they have an American potions student at the hospital right now who used to work there, but that was all. She called me back only a few minutes later to tell me that she'd found out from that student that Nova's Magical Conservatory is owned by the Homlwoods," Louis continued.

Both aurors grimaced once more at hearing the Holmwood name, and Kurt asked, "What else does Ally know about it?"

"Nothing else; the minute she heard their name she called me back. She won't dig anymore into it, probably, but she does expect me to contact her later and tell her that there's nothing to worry about," Louis said.

"Of course," Kurt muttered, "Bloody nosy Weasleys."

Agent Westcott, who had been quiet since they saw the two aurors, pursed his lips in curiosity, "What's so important about this conservatory and that name?"

"How long have you been an agent with the MLE?" Hayden asked Agent Westcott.

"Seven years," Agent Westcott replied quickly.

Hayden nodded, the only MLE agents who knew about the Holmwoods were the ones who were involved in the case back during Victoire's last year at Hogwarts. Agent Westcott would have been in his first year of training with MLE and wouldn't have been involved in the case.

"The Holmwoods are a family that we aurors keep an eye on, any information about them comes directly to us," Hayden explained.

Westcott glanced at Louis peculiarly, "How come Weasley knew to come here and tell you?"

Before anyone else could respond the office door opened and Teddy walked into the room, "Jilly and I played Rock, Paper, Scissors over who would have to stay behind and wrap up the trainees' duelling practice for the morning. She'll be here in about twenty minutes when she lets them go for their break-"

Teddy shut the door behind him and then his words cut-off as he eyed all of the people in the room, his gaze locked on Agent Westcott, "_Westcott_."

The pure disdain in Teddy's voice as he said the MLE agent's name shocked the other two aurors in the room, but it didn't surprise Louis.

Agent Westcott sent Teddy a matching glare to the one he was receiving from the metamorphmagus and folded his arms across his chest, "_Lupin_."

The MLE agent said Teddy's name with the same amount of derision as Teddy had, and the two entered a staring contest.

Kurt and Hayden shared a confused look and then they glanced at the only person in the room who didn't seem puzzled by the waves of contempt rolling off of both men.

"Did we miss something?" Kurt whispered to Louis.

Louis let out a short sigh, "Westcott is Victoire's ex."

"_What?_" Kurt asked a little too loudly while Teddy and Westcott continued to glare at each other in silence. They were measuring each other with their gazes.

"By ex you mean . . .?" Hayden trailed off.

"Victoire and Adam dated when she was in her fifth year. She fell hard and he broke her heart," Louis summarized quietly.

Kurt's eyes bugged out of his head, "_What?_ She was in love with someone before Ted?"

"She thought she was," Louis replied with a shrug of his shoulders.

Hayden and Kurt had barely a few seconds to grasp what Louis had told them before Teddy and Adam Westcott finally decided to end their direct staring contest.

"What are you doing here?" Teddy asked Westcott curtly.

Louis supplied an answer before Westcott could say something that might anger Teddy, as pretty much anything he might have said probably would have, "Since he was my partner for the case we worked on together last week he came with me during my research trip. Have you been read in on our inter-agency adventure last week?"

"Hayden and Kurt told me about it yes . . . they neglected to mention who your partner was though," Teddy told Louis but not without sending Westcott a glare at the end.

Kurt shrugged, "Couldn't remember his name and didn't think it was important."

Louis then went on to explain his and Agent Westcott's morning excursion, complete with his call to Ally and Ally's call back.

"Is that all Ally found out about the Holmwoods? She didn't do any more digging did she?" Teddy asked Louis concernedly once he heard the whole story.

Louis shook his head, "According to her, Kelly Green mentioned the Holmwood connection in passing and Ally pretended not to care about it until she could slip away and give me a call."

Teddy let out a worried breath of air, at least he knew that Ally was, at the moment, avoiding getting into the mess, "And this is all the information you know at present?"

"Yeah, I know what's happening doesn't sound like much –or even anything illegal– but when I heard their name I figured that chances were they had to be up to something," Louis explained.

Hayden nodded, "Always a good assumption. It might be something as innocent as sabotaging plant yield in Europe to increase the demand and cost for their own supply of those plants, or it could end up being something more complex that could endanger a lot of people. We'll have to look further into it and see."

"But who are the Holmwoods?" Westcott tried again to get more detailed information out of the group.

Teddy replied quickly, "That's above your security clearance."

"But it's not above Weasley's?" Westcott asked as he glared at Teddy.

Louis tried to calm their tension, "I found out about it on my own."

Which was somewhat true, everyone in their family knew about what actually happened to Victoire during her seventh year and the crime family that was behind it. She didn't want anybody in the family to be unaware of how dangerous the organization could be in case the Holmwoods still held a grudge against her for not being as easy to kidnap as they thought she might be. Which Teddy and her uncles didn't find to be too crazy of an idea.

"So no one's going to tell me why this is so serious?" Westcott asked petulantly.

Teddy rolled his eyes at him, "No."

Hayden and Kurt shared a look that said that they were both concerned with how the normally cool and collected Auror Theodore Lupin was showing so much obvious anger towards the MLE agent. The only other person they had seen him act quite so callously towards was Richard Lassoder once they'd found out that he was actually J. P. Holmwood.

Westcott glared at Teddy again, but before the room could completely fill up with the tension radiating off of the two men there was a brisk knock on the closed office door. Hayden frowned at the door and muttered something under his breath about 'how weird it was for Jilly to be knocking on her own office door' and skirted around the stiff forms of Teddy and Adam Westcott so he could open the door.

Hayden's eyes widened in shock at who was standing on the other side of the door, but somehow his brain sent the signal to his body to make him shuffle away from the door so that the politely smiling woman in front of him could step into the room.

After sending Hayden a tired but cheery smile in greeting Victoire Weasley's gaze began a sweep of the room so that she could look for her fiancé. Since Teddy was the closest person to Hayden she spotted him right away and her inspection of the room didn't go much farther than that. Victoire skipped the few feet towards him and immediately began babbling.

"Hey Babe, remember that book on medieval healing I got from Grimmauld Place that you confiscated from me a year and a half ago?" Victoire asked Teddy with a single-minded determination that he was immediately suspicious of.

"The one that held that spell you wanted to use to help Cecilia out with her– problem?" Louis asked aloud as he vividly remembered Victoire discovering an old healing tome that contained the painful spell she had –only somewhat jokingly– offered to cast on Elijah Martell after she'd found out that the man had tried to assault Cecilia.

Victoire's head twisted around with an audible _crack_ when she heard her younger brother's voice, "Yes, exactly that one. What are you doing here?"

Before Louis had the chance to reply Victoire's gaze shifted to take in the other occupants of the room that she might have overlooked. As her blue eyes swung passed Kurt there was expectation in them instead of surprise at seeing the other auror, but they widened with disbelief and shock once they rested on Adam Westcott.

Victoire's body spun around so she could directly face Westcott and she pointed her finger accusingly at him.

"_You_."

The tone of pure hatred in Victoire's voice made a shiver of fear travel down Hayden, Kurt, and even Louis's spines and her hands started to emit a pale blue light that was quickly amping up into flame.

"Hello Victoire," Westcott said in a plain tone of voice as he nodded nonchalantly at her.

"Don't you _ever _say my name again," Victoire warned the man as the small licks of flames on her hands began to turn into a roiling blaze that was slowly beginning to make its was up her wrists towards her forearms.

Louis took a few steps towards his sister, he figured he was probably the most flame-resistant of the group, and reached for his sister as if he was ready to pull her arms back in case she started to accidentally –or on purpose– shoot flames at her ex-boyfriend.

"Vic maybe-" Louis's warning was drowned out by Westcott.

"I think you're being a little dramatic right now," Westcott told Victoire in his same tone of forced nonchalance as his eyes switched between looking at her flaming hands and her face.

The blue fire on her hands increased in intensity as she heard Westcott's words, "You think I'm being _dramatic_ do you?"

Louis eyes her hands worriedly and glanced at Teddy, he caught the metamorphmagus's eye and mouthed the words 'a little help here?' and nodded his head towards Victoire. Teddy folded his arms across his chest and shook his head minutely. Louis narrowed his eyes at Teddy and let out a huff of exasperation.

"If you want to see me being dramatic, I'll show you dramatic," Victoire very clearly threatened Westcott. She turned to fix her stare on Hayden and Kurt, "Hayden, Kurt, what would you do if your mothers met me for the first time and called me an 'attention-seeking slut'?"

For once Hayden was speechless and Kurt knew the correct thing to say, "I'd tell her that she was being ridiculous and that you're one of the most clever and upstanding people I know."

"Ditto," Hayden was finally able to add.

Victoire spun back around, the blonde hair of her ponytail flying wildly, and went back to glaring heatedly at Westcott, "_See_. Even they know what the correct thing to say would have been, and I've never even snogged them!"

Since Kurt had just won some good-will with Victoire he decided to see how far he could push his luck, "So what exactly happened then? Could we take a time-out so that everyone in the room can get on the same page?"

Westcott glared at the nosy auror but Victoire, who was still feeling both irate and vindictive, freely explained, "Adam was my boyfriend in my fifth year. At Easter break I went to meet his family for the first time, and directly in front of me his mother said that she thought I was a slut, and that I'd end up cheating on him. He's such an easily swayed momma's boy that it was easy for her to convince him to chuck me because of her hateful words."

"Pathetic dude," Kurt told Westcott with a slow shake of his head, "Truly pathetic."

"And grossly hypocritical," Teddy snarled not-so-quietly as he continued to glare at Westcott. His gaze had darted every few seconds towards the steady blue embers of anger on his fiancée's hands, but he didn't seem too worried about the relatively high chance there was of her throwing a fireball at her ex-boyfriend.

Westcott scowled at Teddy with a harsh expression, "Well it certainly cleared the way for you didn't it? I made it very easy for you to swoop in and become her prince charming."

"Teddy sincerely cared about me as a person and my wellbeing. _He_ didn't make me fall in love with him while at the same time only thinking about how quickly he could convince me to jump into bed with him," Victoire said with such a chilling ferocity that it made Hayden and Kurt take an automatic step away from her even though they were far from the subject of her ire.

Westcott glared imperiously at her, "Are you quite sure about that?"

Victoire's mouth popped open, "How _dare_ you. I can't believe I actually spent even one minute crying over you all those years ago!"

"He's not denying it," Westcott said as he pointed arrogantly at where Teddy stood.

Teddy scoffed, "I'm not rebuffing your claims because Victoire knows better than to believe them and her opinion is the only one that matters to me."

"How sweet," Westcott sneered, "You weren't quite so level-headed back when you attacked me after Victoire and I broke up."

"What?" Victoire asked, the flames around her hands and wrists suddenly disappearing with her surprise upon hearing what Westcott had said, "What are you talking about?"

Westcott glanced at Victoire, "Oh, did the love of your life not tell you that he attacked me unprovoked just a few days after our breakup when we were back at Hogwarts?"

Victoire turned her gaze to Teddy confusedly, "Is he lying?"

"No," Teddy replied with an eerie calm that bordered silent fury, "He's mostly correct, although I'd debate the 'unprovoked' part."

"I didn't do anything to you," Westcott argued.

Teddy glared at him, "It's not what you did to me –besides breaking my best friend's heart– it was what I overheard you bragging about to your friends just before I broke your jaw."

Kurt muttered the word '_whoa_' upon hearing Teddy freely admit that he broke Westcott's jaw, and Westcott himself looked frightened. It was the first time he had allowed himself to express dread since Victoire had walked into the room.

"What? Not going to try to defend yourself?" Teddy asked sarcastically.

"Oh are you actually giving me a chance to now?" Westcott spat angrily.

Teddy glowered at him, "I gave you a chance to take back what you said, you decided to be a prat instead."

"What was he saying?" Victoire demanded to know as she turned back to Teddy. This was the first she'd ever heard about Teddy getting into a physical altercation with Westcott around the time of their breakup.

"Oh, has Lover Boy never told you about this before?" Westcott asked Victoire condescendingly, "I'm shocked. I would have figured that he would have gone running to you every chance he could to get on your good side."

Victoire narrowed her eyes suspiciously at her fiancé, "What happened?"

Teddy kept eye contact with Victoire even though he knew he might regret it, "I overheard Westcott bragging to his friends that even though he'd been forced by his mother to break it off with you, that you were still so infatuated with him that he'd be able to convince you to see him in secret and that he'd be able to, in his own words, defile you before the end of the school year."

"_What?_" Victoire repeated in a tone that could only be described as biting. She turned back to glare at Westcott, "You said that about me?"

She didn't give him time to reply before she spun back around and pointed her finger at Teddy, "And you knew he was going around saying things like that and you didn't tell me!"

"I'd coerced him into stopping before any more rumours could spread so I didn't see the point in telling you and making you feel even worse about the situation when you were already at the lowest I'd ever seen you," Teddy told her guardedly.

"Oh, so you thought I was too delicate to know that my ex-boyfriend was going around making claims about how he'd easily be able to seduce me?" Victoire asked Teddy as she moved her hands to her hips.

Teddy pinched the bridge of his nose knowing that this was going to turn into a bigger argument before it was over, "I thought you were in a precarious state and that a delay in you finding out about the added parts of the situation would be for the best."

"So when were you planning on telling me then? It's been eight years already, did you think I was still in a precarious state all this time and that I was still infatuated with him and at risk of having my heart broken again?" She shot back.

He sighed heavily, "Of course not. It just didn't seem important by the time you'd gotten over him. I thought why drag it up if it was already in the past?"

"You thought that did you? Well as long as you're around to make decisions on what I should know and what it's best that I don't know, then I guess everything's alright!" Victoire proclaimed with biting sarcasm.

Kurt glanced worriedly at Louis, "Did she forget that she's supposed to be angry with her ex instead of Ted?"

"Nah, lately she's had enough anger and mood swings to go around," Louis explained as he decided to stay out of his eldest sister's argument with her fiancé.

"You know that's not what I intended-" Teddy tried to defend himself only to be cut-off by Victoire who was starting to –literally– get fired up again.

"Do I know that? Because making poor decisions on my behalf and keeping me out of the loop on them because you think I'm not fully equipped to handle them seems to be rather a trademark with you."

Westcott smirk as he heard the couple's quarrel, "Well Lupin, if this is what happens when you get to tup _her_ I'm glad you saved me from that fate."

Victoire spun around and slapped Westcott hard across the face before even Teddy could react to the other man's vulgar statement.

Westcott made a pained grunting sound and automatically held his cheek and lower eye socket where Victoire had landed her hard blow.

"You're lucky we're in the Auror Department right now or I'd be hexing you into something that only my colleagues from the Dark Arts Reversal ward would be able to undo," Victoire announced as her hand twitched towards the pocket of her coat that held her wand.

"Are you seriously threatening me in a room full of aurors?" Westcott asked her disbelievingly.

Victoire scoffed at him and crossed her arms over her chest, "Nobody here would rat me out if I decided to give you what you deserve."

"We really wouldn't," Kurt added helpfully while Hayden nodded next to him.

"Which reminds me," Victoire said as her gaze shifted from Westcott back to Teddy, "What's _he_ doing here anyway?"

Louis answered for his sister, "Unfortunately, I've been working with Westcott lately and we were following up a loose end from a seemingly benign investigation that ended up providing me with information I thought it was important for the Auror Department to know."

"How fun," Victoire replied sarcastically, "I'll leave you to it then."

She turned towards the door but Teddy stopped her by saying softly, "Vic, it's about the Holmwoods."

Victoire stopped and turned to face her fiancé. She took a deep breath and swallowed thickly, "Any immediate danger?"

"Not that we know of," He told her slowly.

She glanced over to Hayden and Kurt, "I assume I'm not allowed to know much more than that?"

"I probably wouldn't have even told you that," Hayden admitted freely.

Victoire looked back to Teddy. Even though she had just been accusing Teddy of keeping secrets from her and that making decisions that concerned her without her knowledge was his trademark, she knew that he'd moved on from that as their relationship grew just as she had tried harder to make less impulsive and potentially dangerous choices.

"I thought you weren't supposed to be taking on active cases for the next two months," Victoire reminded him.

Teddy's lips twisted a little wryly, "Hayden and Kurt get to do most of the footwork on this one. I'm here right now to consult."

"Alright," She responded plainly, she moved to walk towards the door again, giving Westcott another harsh glare as she walked by him, but was stopped again by the metamorphmagus.

"Didn't you say something when you came in about needing a book I confiscated earlier for being too dark?"

Victoire glanced back at her fiancé, "I know there's a spell in there about very painful castration, so I'm also wondering if there's a similar spell in it that would agonizingly liquefy a man's internal reproductive system while alive."

Hayden, Kurt, and Louis all flinched at just hearing her words while Westcott immediately scampered several steps away from her. Teddy on the other hand stood his ground and didn't even cringe.

"And you're looking into a spell like that for purely academic purposes?" Teddy asked with a hidden smirk.

Victoire raised an eyebrow at him, "Of course."

"I'll write a note for you so that you can get it out of confiscation," Teddy told her easily as he summoned a piece of parchment and a pen to him and began to jot down a few lines.

"Are you sure you want to allow me to have those kinds of spells in my possession right now?" She asked him severely.

He smirked again and finished the note, "I'll take my chances."

Teddy took a few steps towards her and handed her the note. He told her that any of the younger aurors in the open cubicle office space would be able to help her, and then he caught her eye and held her gaze.

"I love you."

Victoire stretched up onto her tiptoes and pressed a quick but firm kiss to Teddy's lips, when she pulled away she told him, "I love you too. But I'm still mad at you."

"I know," He pressed a kiss to the freckles scattered across the bridge of her nose, "Now go get your reference book, go home, and try to get a little bit of sleep in before your night shift tonight."

She reached up to give him another swift kiss on his lips, "I'll see you later." She threw a general wave of goodbye over her shoulder to Hayden, Kurt, and Louis before exiting the office.

Once she was gone Teddy noticed that the four other men in the room were watching him with disbelieving expressions.

"What?"

"I'm just trying to grasp how you were in the middle of a heated argument and now she's kissing you goodbye and skipping off to find a restricted book with dark spells in it," Kurt explained on behalf of both him and Hayden.

Teddy shrugged, "She has delicate feelings but she always puts the concerns of others above her own."

"Delicate feelings?" Westcott scoffed.

Teddy turned on him and only just stopped himself from drawing his wand, "You're lucky that I never told her what you were saying about her all of those years ago. Contrary to what you may think I was protecting her from doing something to _you_ that might have gotten _her_ expelled from school."

"I thought you said she was delicate?" Westcott retorted scathingly.

Teddy scowled at him, "She's a multi-faceted person with complex emotions, not that you ever thought of her that way."

"She wasn't complex when I dated her."

"Oh she was, you just wouldn't have noticed because you never even saw her as a _person_," Teddy berated him.

The metamorphmagus then walked over to the door of the office that Victoire had closed behind her and he opened it up and gestured towards Westcott, "Now I think you'd better leave before someone with a looser control on their temper than me finds out about what you've said about her, both in the past and just now."

"I'm not worried about your goons," Westcott pointed over his shoulder to Kurt and Hayden, "Or Weasley there. I'm his superior in the MLE hierarchy after all."

Teddy rolled his eyes, "I wasn't talking about anybody in this room. I was referring to the fact that two of Victoire's uncles and her godfather are all veteran aurors and that I'm sure they'd love to avenge their niece even though it's been years since you wronged her."

Westcott blanched and then glanced at Louis and muttered, "It's time to go anyway."

Louis rolled his eyes but moved so he could slowly follow after Westcott. He knew that not returning with the more senior MLE agent might get him in trouble in his own department. Before he left the office he turned to look at Teddy.

"Promise to keep me in the loop about the Holmwoods?"

Teddy crossed his arms over his chest, "Only if you promise to keep Westcott _out_ of the loop."

"Deal."

* * *

**A/N:** Well look at that! The Holwoods are back and so is their connection to Nova's Conservatory, Kelly Green, and a shortage in plants needed for wolfsbane potions, who could have guessed that?

Also, did I just introduce a character you've never heard of before in an overly dramatic way? Yes, yes I did. Will this end up being important later on? It'll actually be sooner than you might think.

I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter despite its tardiness, and I hope that everyone is doing their best to try to stay safe and healthy.

**Next Update:** Hopefully sooner than the time was between this update and the last one.

**Next Chapter:** Victoire and Teddy try to discuss some things, Vic does a bit more research into the spell used on Jerome. We get a bit of Baxter and Eliza interaction, as well as some Benjamin/Eliza, and Teddy and James have a heart-to-heart.

I want to thank everyone who has followed, favourited, read, and especially reviewed this story.

BIGGEST thank yous to:

**ASlytherinGal, audrey3horses, Elora Donovan, HufflepuffDADA, Norway, no cure for crazy, NicoleTheSmith, Guest (1), Guest (2), Lenkner0407, Guest (3), Break This Spell626, rosesnlilies, **and** Guest (4)**.

**ASlytherinGal:** I'm glad that you can still get some joy from this. I feel so very bad for you and everyone else who were in their last years of schooling before graduating to the next stages, I can't imagine how all that added stress is making you feel.

**Elora Donovan:** Just imaging Siri trying to read out the accents I write makes me laugh and brings a funny imagine to my mind, so thanks for that.

**HufflepuffDADA:** Thank you very much. As for seeing more of Greg, it seems as though its out of my hands now and all up to Dom and Spencer ;)

**NicoleTheSmith:** I really feel for anybody who's supposed to be graduating from one stage and moving onto another right now, I remember the stress I felt coming upon university graduation and i can't imagine the added stress of a world-wide pandemic. I thank you for your words, at the moment all of my family is safe and their respective occupations have been very lenient and have been taking the situation very seriously, so for that I'm grateful. In general I'm very happy with how Canada is handling all of this right now.

**Lenkner0407:** Those are very kind words, and it does make sense thank you. The reason why I started writing these fics all those years ago was because there weren't many Teddy/Vic fics out there to begin with and none that really encaptured what I thought they'd be like, so that's why I started to write my own. I'm just glad that others are enjoying my characters and the little sub-world I've created.

**Guest (3):** Don't worry, there will be plenty of interaction between James and Selene going forward.

**Break This Spell626:** Your review and summary made me smile, so thank you. That is essentially what Victoire did, but yes, Fabius did deserve it.

**rosesnlilies:** So many Weasley AND the veelas, don't forget about them ;)

**I'd like to take this moment to deeply thank from the bottom of my heart anybody reading this who might be a front line worker or someone who's been deemed an essential service. I understand and greatly appreciate that you go out every day to do your jobs even though there is a chance you might contract COVID-19 (whether or not you use or have access to proper PPE). I want to acknowledge and thank all of you for everything you are doing for your fellow human beings, and I want to thank everyone who is following their government's advice to stay at home and physically distance. It really makes a difference and will continue to make a difference for the next several weeks and most likely months to come.**

All right, off my soapbox now,

I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter,

Please let me know what you thought of this chapter,

If you have any questions or concerns about anything you can mention them in a review or a PM,

I hope everyone stays healthy, and until next time,

Wash your hands for twenty seconds, stay home, physically distance for 2 metres, and DFTBA ;)


	16. Distractions and Interventions

**A/N:** Hi everyone, I really should stop giving you an estimate of when I'm going to update because obviously I can't stick to it. Sorry. Anyhoo, here's the next chapter!

**Disclaimer:** I do not own _Harry Potter._

* * *

**Recap:** Last chapter Vic had a run-in with a crazy ex of hers. The Holmwoods are back in the game somehow. Vic's trying to figure out if she can find the spell that was used against Monsieur Leclair. Nobody likes Austin (I know that's not exactly new, just thought I'd remind you guys). And James is officially playing on Puddlemere's starting team in Nadia's place.

* * *

**Distractions and Interventions**

**Wednesday, May 1st 2024**

**7:12 AM**

Victoire moaned embarrassingly loudly as Teddy's mouth left a trail of open-mouthed kisses down her collarbone and towards the round collar of her blouse. Her own fingers were working frantically at the buttons of his shirt and she attached her mouth back to his just as her fingers finished with their task. Her palms immediately began smoothing themselves across the hard planes of his chest as she slipped her tongue into his mouth. He tasted of sweet jam and breakfast tea and she moaned again as his hands settled themselves on her hips and began to knead the muscles there.

Her knees went weak and a streak of fire shot towards her stomach from every point of contact she could feel from his body. Her heartbeat was racing and she was lightheaded as her hands trailed down his chest. Her fingers came to rest on the top button of his trousers.

Teddy, who had previously been squeezing the curves around her hips, suddenly pulled his hands and his mouth away from hers.

"Love I've got to be at work in forty-five minutes," Teddy told her apologetically as he stepped back to put some space between them.

Victoire didn't let him retreat and she followed his movements so that she was still close to him, "Well since I've just come off a night shift that went on an hour too long, I think that's plenty of time for the amount of energy I have left."

She pressed another kiss to his mouth and he kissed her back for several more minutes before he remembered he wanted to pull away, "I think there's a few things we need to talk about before we move on here."

"Let me guess? Adam?"

Since Victoire had been scheduled to work another night shift the day before, and since Teddy's training with his auror trainees went a little long, they had about twenty minutes to see each other the night before, before Victoire had to leave for her shift.

"Yes, although that wasn't what I was thinking about discussing this morning," Teddy told her as he pinched the bridge of his nose.

"The Holmwoods?"

"Again yes, but still not what I was thinking about this moment."

Victoire pursed her lips, she was puzzled, "Our appointment to meet with the real estate agent again this weekend?"

"No – but yeah I guess we should talk about that before the actual appointment," He said as he grabbed the ends on his dress shirt as if he was going to button it back up.

"Then did you want to talk about how my appointment went with the lady from the Lycanthropy Support Office?" She asked him as she continued to guess what he was thinking about since all of her other guesses didn't seem to be panning out.

He sighed, "Did we not talk about that yet? Godric our schedules are crazy this week. Well let's add that to the list then for when we have more time."

"Did you want to say something else about me and Cassidy coming into the Auror Department on Friday to instruct your trainees on basic healing magic?"

"No," Teddy replied with a small sigh of relief, "_That_ we had time to discuss and there's no changes so far."

Victoire frowned in confusion, "Then what do you want to discuss?"

"Tomorrow."

She frowned, the next day was Remembrance Day. One of her hands slowly travelled back to rest on his chest while the other moved to run through the presently light yellow hair on his head, "How about we have fun _now_ and leave all that annoying grown up talking stuff for later?"

He leaned forward so that his forehead was pressing against hers, "I thought we agreed that we'd stop seducing each other when trying to avoid difficult conversations?"

"I thought that was only when _you_ were trying to avoid discussing things," Victoire said in a tone that was filled with faux-innocence.

One of Teddy's eyebrows raised on his forehead.

"Look Babe, I've got about a half hour of over-tired energy left before I crash for half the day. Do you think our discussion about tomorrow will fit in that time constraint?" Victoire asked him in a no-nonsense tone.

He sighed. He knew that what they needed to talk about would definitely take longer than a half hour.

"I can't be late for work," Teddy told her seriously before leaning forward to press his mouth to hers in a hungry kiss.

Victoire melted against him immediately and welcomed the relief that came with her mind finally being completely distracted for at least the next half hour.

* * *

**12:10 AM**

After capturing four hours of the ever increasingly elusive sleep that she'd been deprived of for the last few days, Victoire forced herself out of bed and got ready as quickly as she could so she could make it to Diagon Alley in good time.

Ever since she found out from Colton that she wouldn't be getting reprimanded for using her spell to heal Monsieur Leclair, she had been curious as to what kind of spell could have caused such an awful series of symptoms. She had dedicated a lot of time the day before to searching through all of her Dark Arts Reversal textbooks to see if there were any spells that closely resembled the situation she'd encountered, when she suddenly remembered about the medieval healing book that Teddy had confiscated from her a few years previously. She had originally taken the tome from Grimmauld Place because it had a spell in it that could irreversibly and painfully castrate a man, and she had offered to Cecilia that she would cast it on Elijah Martell after she found out that he had tried to assault her.

Cecilia hadn't been able to take Victoire up on the offer because Teddy had quickly confiscated the book from her because he '_was an auror for Merlin's sake_' and he couldn't just let her do something like that. After getting the book back from the Auror Department she had searched it front to back for a similar spell. Unfortunately there was only the one spell on castration and from the information written on the page the symptoms of the spell were very different.

She had decided that she needed to find a few more sources to search, so she made the decision to check out a couple book stores to see if she could find anything else pertaining to the spell. She doubted she'd find a book with the actual spell in it as those were definitely restricted, but she thought she might be able to find reference to it in a different book.

Researching spells meant visiting _Obscurus Books_ where Molly Weasley worked. Visiting her younger cousin also usually meant that Victoire was able to embarrass her in some way, which was always fun.

As if she was a skilled _legilimens_, Molly groaned loudly when she saw her eldest cousin enter the shop she worked in. She tried to look extremely busy as she fiddled with a stack of books she had been curating for an elderly client who had owled in an order, and Victoire smirked in the redhead's direction before stepping up to the front counter where one of Molly's not-as-busy coworkers was standing.

"Could you give me a hand?" She asked the male employee in a polite voice.

The employee, who _had_ met her before, blinked at her blankly and replied, "Are you looking for something in particular?"

"Any book that mentions a spell that liquefies a man's internal reproductive system causing excruciating pain and most likely sterility."

As she expected, the male employee flinched and took an automatic step back away from her.

"Uh–I don't–I'm not sure if–"

"I'll handle it Mike," Molly came to her co-worker's rescue as she rolled her eyes at Victoire's blasé response.

Mike nodded thankfully and high-tailed it out of hearing distance while Molly gave Victoire a long look.

"So who pissed you off this week?"

"Both Fabius and Adam Westcott. But they actually don't have anything to do with my research," Victoire explained.

Molly smirked, "Off course it doesn't. So do you have any starting ideas of what kind of book this elusive spell of yours might be in?"

"Well it's not in any of the Dark Arts Reversal spell books or Defense Against the Dark Arts texts that I have, so I'd say maybe some older texts that contain bizarre unsolved injuries?" Victoire suggested.

Molly nodded and then she started to collect a large amount of books and texts that she thought might be helpful. Victoire started skimming and speed reading through each book as Molly set them down. They spent a relatively quiet and fruitless half hour at the endeavour before Molly made another suggestion.

"Is it possible that this spell isn't intended to be dark per say, but instead it was meant as a useful spell to sterilize someone with the side effect of it being incredibly painful?"

Victoire thought on the suggestion for a few moments, "That's possible. Especially if it was a very old spell . . . maybe we should be looking into books about ancient fertility magic."

"You always bring me the most interesting research requests," Molly mused as she turned to go back into the very back of the book store, "Keep it up and you'll either get me promoted or fired."

Victoire snickered, "I'll do my best to avoid causing the latter."

"I'd appreciate it."

The two women were much slower as they searched through the old fertility texts as Victoire wanted to make sure that she didn't miss anything that could be considered a clue that could lead to the spell's whereabouts.

"Ancient Greek women use to mix _what_ with water and drink it?" Molly asked appalled as she stopped reading the tome she was flipping through to start obnoxiously gagging.

Victoire glanced over at what Molly was reading and shrugged her shoulders, "Many societies used to do something similar thinking it would increase the women's fertility."

"Merlin that's gross I can't-"

"Really say anything considering the kinds of things that go into many everyday potions we still make," Victoire added with a bit of a smirk.

Molly's eyes went wide, "Are you telling me that Ally uses stuff like . . . _that_ when she makes potions for the hospital?"

"No. Usually blood, saliva, and bile are the extent to animal bodily fluids that are used in healing potions, but that doesn't mean that other fluids aren't used in other potions," Victoire reasoned.

"Thanks, now I'm going to have to call Ally and ask her to tell me every ingredient of every potion I'll ever take from now on," Molly complained.

Victoire chuckled, "That sounds like and _you_ and _Ally_ problem now."

Molly enthusiastically closed the tome she was looking through just as another person entered the book shop. Victoire glanced up automatically when she heard the store's door closing and she smiled tiredly upon seeing Baxter Weasley.

"Hey Bax!"

Baxter smiled cautiously at his cousin, he could tell by the look on her face that she hadn't gotten much sleep after her night shift, and he slowly walked up to where she and Molly were around the far counter.

"Hey Vic, what's going on around here?" Baxter asked curiously as he opened one of the closed books on the counter to a random page.

Baxter's ears and face immediately went red as the page he'd opened to revealed a hand drawn picture of an ancient Sumerian intercourse technique that was supposed to increase the chance of conception.

"_Gah!_"

"I'm doing research," Victoire explained with a roll of her eyes as she closed the tome as not to further damage Baxter's sensitive sensibilities.

Baxter's face was still red, "On what? I thought you already gave your sex ed lecture at Hogwarts."

"I did. This is for something else," She explained as she swept away the tome he'd opened. They had already discarded it as an option because it didn't have any helpful information in it. Or at least nothing particularly helpful when it came to castration spells.

"She's researching for her honeymoon," Molly told her brother with as serious of an expression as she could muster.

Baxter looked like he was going to faint upon hearing this added information, and Victoire swatted Molly's arm before quickly correcting her, "No I'm not. It's healing related."

"Are you so bored with everything going on that you need to start a new research project to keep you busy?" Baxter asked sarcastically.

Victoire shook her head, "No, it's relevant to stuff that's already on my plate. What are you doing here? Obviously you didn't come here to see if you could give me a hand."

"Molly and I have a lunch date," Baxter explained.

The blonde cousin smirked, "That's adorable."

"Not exactly, Molly wants my help in planning an intervention for Lucy."

Molly nodded enthusiastically, "Yup, you in Victoire?"

"Are you seriously asking me to help you with an intervention for Lucy before even telling me what it's about?" Victoire asked Molly.

"Yes. You're always up for an intervention, I thought the reason why wouldn't matter too much," Molly reasoned.

Victoire pinched the bridge of her nose, Molly was right in that respect, "I'm sorry but I just don't have the time to help. I'm so busy with everything that's going on right now-"

"Godric Bloody Gryffindor, just ask me what the intervention's about Vic."

"Fine, what's the intervention about?"

Molly opened her mouth but Baxter beat her to the punch, "Lucy's secretly seeing Austin again. We found out that it's being going on longer than just that one time Dom found out about."

"_Merde_," Victoire swore in French, "Bloody Austin Pennington. Molly add him to the list."

Molly raised an eyebrow at her, "What list?"

"That earlier list about who's pissed me off this week even though it's _not _connected to my research into that spell that causes a painful liquefaction of the male internal reproductive system."

Baxter's head snapped towards Victoire and he swallowed thickly, "A spell that does _what_ now?"

"Bax if you can't handle that diagram you saw in that ancient Sumerian book, you can't handle the rest of it, just pretend you never heard it," Molly suggested.

Baxter pointed his finger at her, "Will do."

"So," Molly began turning to Victoire again, "Back to Lucy. She's been secretly seeing Pennington again for like the past two weeks and Baxter and I think that we need to _talk _some sense into her."

"By 'talk some sense into her' do you actually mean doing something to her with the aid of a coercive spell?" Victoire asked succinctly.

Molly crossed her arms over her chest, "Are you asking this because you would disagree with that course of action or because you're offering to help me with it?"

Victoire glanced around herself to make sure that there was no one else within hearing distance and she whispered to her cousins, "You should know better than to tempt me like this!"

"So you're in?"

Victoire slapped a hand over her face, "_Ugh_. No. I'm not. That was Slytherin Victoire talking. She thinks blood's thicker than anything, especially Pennington's spine. She slips out really easily when I haven't gotten enough sleep after a night shift."

"Oh, can I talk to her for a few more minutes then? If she's not going to physically participate in the intervention I'm going to need some tips on how to do it without her," Molly said.

The eldest cousin let out a long sigh, "No. I can't. I'm marrying an auror for Merlin's sake."

"Teddy doesn't like Austin either," Baxter added helpfully.

Victoire glared at him that's not the point, "The point is that I'm trying to be a better person and ambushing Lucy to tell her for the fiftieth time my entire ninety-nine thesis on why Austin Pennington is an arsehole doesn't seem to fit that theme."

"Don't you even want to know why Lucy's been lying to all of us about her dating him again?" Molly asked.

Victoire snorted, "No. It's obvious she didn't tell us because she knows how much we all dislike him and that we'd give her and him an awful time about it."

"We wouldn't have to give her a hard time about it if she just realized that she deserves better than him and that we want her to be happy. He doesn't make her happy!" Molly exclaimed passionately.

Baxter sighed, "If you beat her over the head with it she's going to stop listening to you altogether."

"I think you'll be able to plan this intervention without my help. A Hufflepuff and a Gryffindor should be able to balance each other out when arranging an intervention for a Ravenclaw," Victoire reasoned.

Molly smirked, "This is why we need a Slytherin."

Victoire grabbed two of the books from the stack Molly had found for her and began to make her way to the cash register, "Find another one then! I've got research and a power-nap to get to."

* * *

**4:46 PM**

Baxter smiled sweetly at the toddler in front of him who was playing with a medium-sized muggle pop-up toy. Each time Rowan pressed or twisted one of the buttons or knobs a different animal popped-up and she would start back in surprise and then giggle and clap her hands. Baxter would point to the animal, say its name, and then wait for Rowan to try to repeat it.

"Hey Eliza, you were a Ravenclaw . . ." Baxter began as he glanced up from the toddler and looked in the direction of the kitchen area of Eliza's flat where the tall brunette was prepping dinner.

If Eliza turned her head just slightly she could see Baxter sitting on the floor of the living room next to her toddler, "How astute of you to remember Baxter."

Baxter ignored her sarcasm and continued, "And as a Ravenclaw if I wanted to try to convince you that the bloke you're dating is a complete prat and that you deserve way better than him, what would be the best way to go about that?"

"Are you trying to tell me that you want me to dump Benjamin, again?" Eliza asked as she set down her knife and looked directly at the redhead.

Baxter's eyes widened and he hastily started to explain, "No, no, no this has nothing to do with you! It's about Lucy."

"She's not dating Austin Pennington again is she?" Eliza asked. She picked her knife back up and went back to chopping the vegetables now that she was sure that Baxter wasn't trying to not-so-slyly tell her that she needed to chuck Benjamin.

"Unfortunately."

Eliza made a _tsk_ing sound, "Victoire's not going to like that . . . and neither is Cee-Cee."

"Nobody's going to like it. Not even Dad can find something redeeming in the prat anymore, and that's saying something considering that the last time they got back together after the last break-up, Dad pointed out that at least he's a reliable employee," Baxter repeated.

"Well at least he's never cheated on her or anything like that," Eliza remarked.

Baxter slowly pressed one of the buttons on Rowan's toy, making her giggle again. "Is it bad for me to wish that he did cheat on her? I think she'd finally kick him to the curb if he did."

Eliza set her knife down and then picked up her wand to magically peel some of the potatoes, "It could be worse, he could have impregnated her while he was engaged to another woman."

"In all honesty Eliza, I like Benjamin more than Austin Pennington by now," Baxter admitted.

"Wow. That took _a lot_ for you to say."

Baxter chuckled, "It did. So how should we go about trying to help Lucy make the choices that will make her happy in the long run?"

"Try to appeal to Lucy's common sense. We Ravenclaws love to think that we're so intelligent and clever but even we make mistakes where our feelings or passion is involved. Remind her that it's okay for experiments to fail, and that even though you put a lot of work and effort into the experiment sometimes they just reach an end that's unsatisfactory," Eliza reasoned as she summoned some herbs to her to chop.

The redhead pursed his lips as he considered her words, "You think that will work?"

"It can't hurt," She replied.

"Well I guess telling Lucy that before Molly tries her hand at casting a coercion spell on her is worth a shot," Baxter pondered.

Eliza, who normally would be surprised at hearing someone admitting to knowing that someone had a plan to cast an illegal spell on someone else, took it all in stride since this was a rather normal conversation when dealing with the Weasley family, "Did Victoire give her that suggestion?"

"Actually, Vic told her that she couldn't be party to that because she's too busy and she's trying to be a better person," He enlightened.

She set her wand and knife down again and glanced at Baxter worriedly, "Is she feeling alright?"

"Honestly I think she's got so much on her plate right now that she's gonna end up with another ulcer, but I wouldn't dare tell her what to do," He added.

Eliza wiped her hands on her apron and walked back into the living room with a half-drunk mug of tea in her hands, "And what about you?"

"Well I've never had an ulcer but-"

"Stop," Eliza interrupted his attempted joke with a roll of her eyes, "I meant what about your love life?"

Baxter glanced back down at Rowan, "It's non-existent."

"Well you better find one soon or Cecilia will have to find you a date for Victoire's wedding."

His head snapped up, "How do you know about that?"

"Cecilia, _duh_," Eliza replied, "So stop playing shy and let me help you figure out who you should ask before it's all up to Cecilia and whatever amount of mercy she had left for you."

Baxter let out a heavy exhale, "I don't really have any idea who to ask. I don't spend a lot of time with women who I'm not related to, or are not you."

"Fair enough . . . but let's try to rack our brains, okay?"

"I'm thinking, but there's no one!"

Eliza rolled her eyes, "You went to that club with Freddie and James last week right? Didn't you meet anyone there?"

"Selene Spiros, Teagan Childs, and Jordan Simpson."

"Well there's three very nice women right there," Eliza pointed out.

Baxter snorted, "Teagan's way too intimidating, Jordan's never said more than five words to me, and Selene's-"

"Selene's a very nice and very pretty woman," Eliza reminded him needlessly.

He sighed again, "Selene's off limits."

"Why?"

"Can't tell you."

Eliza shook her head, "Whatever. What about someone from work?"

"I only work with Blair Ollivander, the only women I come across there are patrons looking for wands," Baxter reminded her.

"Does Cecilia have any female friends?"

"You."

"Besides me."

"Then no, you know she's not the type who easily develops close female friendships."

Eliza nodded, "True. _Hmmm_ . . . do you remember my friend Gemma?"

"No thank you."

"What's wrong with Gemma?"

"Did you talk to her about me when we were dating two years ago?"

"Yes . . ."

"Then no thank you."

There was a pause of silence in the room where the only noise was of Rowan playing with her toy.

Eliza finally let out a long sigh, "Well since you've shot down all of my other ideas you know what I'm going to suggest now."

"What?"

His dark-haired friend smirked at him and folded her arms across her chest, "Lia."

Baxter replied immediately, "No."

She expected his denial, "C'mon, bakery girl consistently hits on you every time you're in the store and she's being doing so for almost two years."

"She's just trying to sell more sweets," Baxter argued.

Eliza raised an eyebrow at him, "By sticking her tongue in your mouth?"

"That was an unavoidable magical Christmas mistletoe incident," He told her.

She smirked, "That happened two years in a row?"

"I'll just go to the wedding stag," Baxter said changing the topic away from the bakery girl.

Eliza shook her head at him, "You're impossible."

"It's a Weasley trait."

He knew he shouldn't have been proud about what he said, but he sort of was, and he couldn't stop his smile when he thought about it. Eliza shook her head at him again and said something to Rowan in a high-pitched tone about Uncle Baxter being crazy. Rowan giggled and Baxter picked her up and tickled her for laughing at him. As he readjusted his grip on the laughing toddler he asked Eliza if she needed help with dinner. She replied in the negative and then went back into the kitchen.

The front door of the flat opened a few moments later and Benjamin Dickinson walked in wearing a set of smart dress robes. His gaze quickly swept across the open-concept room and he noted Eliza cooking in the kitchen and Baxter in the living room with Rowan.

"Good evening everyone. Baxter, have I mentioned how lovely it is to get home after a long day of work to find another man holding my daughter and entertaining my girlfriend?" Benjamin said sardonically as he took off his travelling cloak and placed it on the rack near the front door.

Baxter rolled his eyes and slowly set Rowan down on the ground so that she could run to her father, "Aw Benjamin, you don't have to thank me for spending an hour with your daughter so that _your_ girlfriend could finish her last translation and get a few things done around the flat while you were busy rubbing elbows with people who gossip about her and call her names behind her back."

Rowan had reached Benjamin yelling 'Daddy' by the time Baxter had finished his comment, so instead of replying he had to focus on picking Rowan up and forcing a smile onto his face as he looked at her. Eliza came around the corner out from the kitchen at the same time.

"Put the claws away please ladies," Eliza said patting Baxter on the arm before she walked over to Benjamin and pressed a quick kiss to his lips.

Benjamin gave Eliza a look before glancing back at Baxter, "Thank you for giving Eliza some help. She has a lot on her plate between taking care of Rowan and freelance translating runes and I can't always help out as much as I'd like during the day because I'm low in seniority at work and I get the worst hours."

"I don't apologize for pointing out how poorly your associates treat Eliza, but I know it's not fair of me to insinuate that there's much you can do about it when they control so much of your future," Baxter said in his own version of an apology.

"Thank you."

"Or at least that's what Eliza _says_."

"Baxter," Eliza said in a warning tone.

"All I'm saying is that if _my_ boss was such a dick to my family members that I'd find another job," Baxter muttered as he crossed his arms over his chest.

Benjamin scowled at the redhead, "If I quit this job they'll blacklist me and I won't be able to join any of the top established law firms in England for years."

Eliza sighed and glanced at both men, "This isn't something that we need to discuss right no-"

"So what you're saying is that there's no respectable law firm in the entirety of the British wizarding world that isn't under the influence of your present bosses?" Baxter asked with more than a hint of sarcasm.

Benjamin readjusted his grip on Rowan, "All of the law firms around are like an old pureblood boys' club. Between my boss and my father they'd do an excellent job at making it impossible for me to find another position in a different firm."

"Dinner's almost ready!" Eliza announced loudly, but less with excitement and more with force because she wanted to end the present discussion. She glanced at Baxter, "You're welcome to join us, but only if you promise to talk about _anything_ else."

Baxter sent Eliza a bit of an apologetic shrug and then shook his head, "I appreciate the offer but I've got to go back to my flat and get ready for the quidditch game tonight."

"Puddlemere playing?" Eliza asked curiously as she grasped tightly onto the new change in conversation topic.

"Yeah," Baxter said with a nod, "It's James's first game in Nadia's position now that everybody knows that he's taking over for her during her pregnancy.

Benjamin handed Rowan over to Baxter so that he could give the adorable toddler a hug and kiss goodbye and told him to wish James good luck from them. After giving Rowan her goodbye he handed the dark haired toddler off to her father again and reached forward to give Eliza a hug. Benjamin said goodnight to Baxter as he started to walk towards the kitchen with Rowan in tow. Eliza thanked Baxter for watching Rowan for a bit that afternoon so she could get a bit of work done around the house as she walked him to the front door of the flat.

Once Baxter had left, Eliza found that Benjamin had strapped Rowan into her highchair in the kitchen and was presently wrestling her into a full-torso covering bib. Eliza got their plates ready and set them on the table just as Benjamin was resorting to casting a sticking charm onto the bib to make it adhere to Rowan's jumper so that she wouldn't be able to pull it off herself anymore.

Eliza snorted in amusement at his action but didn't comment as she knew that Rowan was going through a phase where she didn't want to wear bibs mostly for the sake of annoying her parents. Benjamin sighed in relief once he was able to distract Rowan with the mashed potatoes that were on her child-proof dinner plate and collapsed into the chair across the small table from Eliza.

"Thanks for making dinner again," Benjamin told Eliza before he shovelled a forkful of roasted vegetables in his mouth.

Eliza ate with more delicacy as she used her knife to slice into her chicken, "Well I really appreciated the fact that you made breakfast this morning."

"All I did was make tea, toast, and some scrambled eggs," Benjamin disputed before shoving another forkful of food into his mouth.

"Yes, but it tasted good and you making breakfast and minding Rowan allowed me the opportunity to have a shower that lasted more than six minutes," She reminded him.

He smirked, "Ah yes, I forgot that you enjoy the little things."

She rolled her eyes at him and then glanced at Rowan who was trying to eat only the inside part of her green peas.

"Did you get all the translating done that you had scheduled for today?" Benjamin asked Eliza as they ate dinner.

"I was on schedule but then Rowan decided that she only wanted to nap fifteen minutes at a time today so I was behind by the time Baxter stopped in," She explained.

He picked up his knife to cut off a piece of chicken, "So it really was helpful that Baxter stopped by to mind Rowan for a bit?"

"If he hadn't I probably would have been pulling my hair out and had burnt half of dinner by the time you came home," She admitted.

Benjamin lightly tapped his fork against his plate, "Are you feeling alright?"

"It's just normal stress. I just wish that . . ." She trailed off because she didn't really know what she wanted to say.

"There were more hours in the day?" He suggested.

She nodded at his words. It was a better answer than her saying that she wished that he was home more often to help her.

The three of them ate for a few more minutes before Eliza put down her knife and fork and took a deep bracing breath.

"You've been in your position at this law firm for almost a year now, right?" Eliza asked Benjamin even though she already knew the answer.

He nodded and then went back to eating, not realizing where she was going with her train of thought.

"Do you believe that other law firms would consider that enough experience?"

Benjamin looked up from his potatoes, "You mean if I were to apply for a job at a different firm?"

"Yes."

He sighed heavily and set down his own utensils, "Didn't you just ask Baxter to drop this thread of conversation like half an hour ago?"

"Well I've had half an hour for my mind to focus on only thinking about this so if we don't talk about it I might end up passive-aggressively acting out for the next few days," Eliza muttered.

Benjamin nodded and then took a few minutes to collect his thoughts before restarting the conversation, "In all honesty Eliza, there really isn't anywhere for me to go if I don't end with my present firm on good terms."

"You did an excellent job during your internship with _Cunningham and Knott_, I'm sure they would-"

He interrupted her, "They didn't offer me a job when my internship was over, so I doubt they'd do it now-"

"The only reason they didn't offer you a position when you finished was because Creighton Knott knew from your father that you were already offered a position from your present firm so he didn't offer a counter-one out of curtesy," Eliza reminded him.

"You know that both my boss and Creighton are old friends with my dad. If I cross any of them I'm screwed with the others. My dad will know if I even so much as casually ask Creighton if he has any openings in his office," Benjamin told her even though the has also discussed this before.

Eliza ran a hand stressfully through her hair, "Why would your father care if you want to work at _Cunningham and Knot_t instead of where you are?"

"Well ever since Colton Knott personally decided to take my side back when dad was throwing out the idea of making you sign away all your parental rights to Rowan if she'd been born a boy, Dad's been hesitant about whether he'll encourage my ridiculous obsession with you and Rowan. I think that's one of the reasons why Dad encouraged my current boss to offer me a position before Colton had the chance to. He didn't want me getting closer to Colton than was necessary."

Eliza's eyes sparked at Benjamin's explanation and she pounced on the information that she read between the lines of his words, "Do you think Colton Knott would offer you a position if you were looking for one?"

Benjamin sighed heavily and pinched the bridge of his nose, "I don't know . . . I don't think Creighton would allow him to if my Dad found out."

"But do you think Creighton would be able to stop Colton completely? I mean I doubt Creighton ever wanted Dominique Weasley to work there either but she's one of their firm's top associates," Eliza added.

"I honestly don't know Eliza, this is a lot of conjecture," Benjamin said with another sigh, "Can we just, for now, try to talk about something else?"

Eliza was unhappy with ending their conversation without reaching some sort of resolution for their problem, but she was beginning to learn that not all problems could be solved or answered the minute they popped up. She didn't like it, but it was a fact of life she had to get used to.

Trying to do as he asked, she changed the topic of conversation away from his job, "So the weather is supposed to be really nice on Sunday so I thought it would be fun to take Rowan to that muggle park a few streets over that has the brand new play structure-"

"Bugger!" Benjamin interjected as he face-palmed his forehead.

Eliza raised an eyebrow at him after sending a quick glance towards Rowan to make sure that she wasn't about to parrot back her father's language as she was wont to do recently (as Cecilia learned the hard way a few days previously when she swore in Gaelic in front of the toddler).

"Got something against playgrounds?"

"No," Benjamin replied, ignoring her sarcasm, "I just remembered that my mother owled me earlier today and was grumbling about how she hasn't seen Rowan in a while and that she'd like to see us this weekend. She mentioned something about a small Sunday brunch party."

Eliza scoffed and summoned a washcloth to her. She tapped the end of her wand to the fabric and wet it before dabbing it against her daughter's face to clean her up as the almost two-year-old finally seemed finished with her dinner, "Small? So what, only like fifty people?"

"She is trying to be a good grandmother for once," Benjamin defended his mother.

"You know I'm not actually going to say 'no' to our daughter spending time with your parents when they're trying to be actual grandparents, so just let me complain a little about them being fickle," Eliza shot back before picking Rowan up from her highchair and giving her an unintentionally _very_ tight hug.

Benjamin pulled out his wand and sent all of the dinner dishes to the sink, "Fair enough. So are we going?"

"Of course you can go, but I'll need to know exactly how fancy this brunch party of your mother's is going to be so I can pick out an outfit to dress Rowan in for it," Eliza glanced at the dark haired little girl currently in her arms and noted the smears of food from her dinner that she somehow stained her clothes with despite the fact that she had worn a bib complete with full sleeves, "Or two, one for her to wear and one to pack for you to put on her after she eats."

Benjamin stopped his process of filling the kitchen sink with soap and water and turned to glance at her, "I think you misunderstood me Eliza . . . all three of us are invited to and expected to attend brunch on Sunday."

Eliza tore her eyes away from Rowan's face, as she had been closely examining her daughter to inspect her for signs of tiredness, and scowled in Benjamin's direction, "I have to go too?"

"Well . . . yeah," Benjamin replied as he self-consciously avoided eye-contact with Eliza and looked down at the floor, "I made it clear to my mother the last time we were over that the three of us are a family unit and that I would not be accepting invites on mine and Rowan's behalf anymore if she purposely leaves you out of them."

"Why would you do that?" Eliza hissed at him, "The last time your mother did include me in an invite she made sure to introduce you to three different single heiresses while I was standing right next to you."

Benjamin made eye contact with her again and threw his hands up in the air, "And I told her when she did that that I didn't appreciate it! But she's never going to accept you as a part of my life if you keep avoiding them. They've finally mostly come around to Rowan, so now you have to be around them long enough for you to grow on them."

"It's hard to put down roots when you get removed before you can even start to germinate," Eliza argued.

At this point Rowan started to wiggle because she'd been held in one place for so long, and Eliza knelt to the floor so she could set her daughter down. The minute Rowan was free she ran into the living room to play with the discarded toy Baxter had been entertaining her with earlier.

"Germi–what?" Benjamin asked confusedly.

"Geminate: when a seed beings to grow or spout. I forgot that you didn't take Herbology."

Benjamin nodded, "Ah."

"Are you sure that you mother will stop introducing you to single women in front of my face?" Eliza asked in a calmer tone of voice as she walked towards where he stood at the sink.

He smirked a little at her, "I'll make sure that she only does it behind your back."

She rolled her eyes at him but allowed him to wrap his arm around her waist and pull her towards him in a loose hug.

"I guess that's all I can expect right now, isn't it?" She said with a similar sarcasm as she allowed his hug.

Benjamin pressed a kiss to the top of her head, "She's going to dislike you until I marry you and impregnate you with a male heir."

Eliza stiffened in his arms and pushed away so that she could make severe eye contact with him, "Which is not going to happen, if it ever does, for like ten more years."

He studied her expression for a moment before nodding his head solemnly, "Of course . . . I know that . . ."

She sighed and rubbed her palms on her eyes, "Please tell me that we don't need to discuss _that_ now on top of everything else."

"No, I think we can table it for a while," He replied quietly.

"Good, because-"

Eliza's words were cut off by the sudden sound of Rowan crying in the living room. Despite the fact that their living room and kitchen had an open-concept style, the further into the kitchen they were the harder it was to see their two-foot tall toddler. The pair of them sprinted into the living room until they could spot Rowan. She was sitting in front of the pop-up toy and crying in what they soon realized was frustration. It seemed that she was able to make each door but one open, and she was crying in frustration because she didn't have the dexterity to open the last one.

The young parents shared a quick look that said that they both knew that when Rowan started to get easily frustrated it meant that she was getting very tired, and Benjamin offered to finish the dishes while Eliza started Rowan a bath; the first step of her bedtime routine.

* * *

**10:12 PM**

It was almost a quarter after ten by the time Teddy got away from the celebrating crowd at the Puddlemere United stadium. The Puddlemere versus Magpies game had finished almost an hour ago, but everyone was so hyped up with energy after Puddlemere won the game that it took Teddy a while to file out of the box in the stadium he'd be sitting in with the family and friends of several of the players. Ally specifically was overly excited about Xavier's great performance, and since Nadia had been grounded because of her pregnancy, she now had a very willing partner to discuss in detail every play that happened the second after it was completed.

Victoire was unable to attend the home game that evening because she was working another night shift in the D. A. R. ward, but several of their other family members were able to make James's first official game where everyone knew that he was going to be playing Nadia's position for the duration of her pregnancy. There was a lot of pressure placed on James for that evening's game, but even Nadia –who's pregnancy-induced mood swings had made her very abrupt and severe with her critiques – had spent most of her time (whenever she wasn't suddenly crying over how cute Brogan was in his personalized mini-Puddlemere jersey) complementing many if not most of James's plays.

The only reason why Teddy had stuck around the stadium for so long after the game was finished was because he wanted a chance to talk to James once he was finished getting changed out of his gear. Katie had taken Ginny and Harry down to the team's changing room once the game was finished; smirking as she went as she imagined how embarrassed James was going to be when he was suddenly confronted with his overly-enthusiastic and proud mother. Ginny and Harry had just came back to the rest of their extended family who were still at the stadium and informed everyone who was waiting to see James that while he appreciated their support, he was exhausted from the game and had already gone back to his flat to get some rest. The rest of James's family didn't seem too concerned with James's sneaky escape as they'd be able to give him their praise on his playing at some point over the next few days, but Teddy made sure to have a quick whispered conversation with Harry over whether he thought James would be amenable to a quick visit from one person at his flat.

After getting a nod of approval from Harry, Teddy slipped out of the stadium and immediately apparated to the apartment complex that was designated specifically for members of Puddlemere United's quidditch teams. He was already on James's list of pre-approved visitors, so he slipped right past the security guard on duty and into the lift. The doors opened to the floor that held James's flat and Teddy walked out and down the familiar hallway. He knocked twice on the front door of James's flat, and only had to wait a few moments before the younger dark haired man opened the door.

James didn't seem too surprised to see Teddy standing on his doorstep, and he had either just showered at his flat or before he left the stadium because his hair was still damp. He gestured for Teddy to come into his flat, and James glanced around at the empty space behind Teddy in the hallway before closing his front door.

"No Victoire?"

Teddy shook his head, "No, she's working a night shift tonight. If it counts for anything she was really mad that she couldn't make it."

James gestured for Teddy to walk further into his flat towards the living room, "She's going to work all night and then turn around and sit through the Remembrance Day Ceremony at Hogwarts tomorrow?"

"That's her plan."

"Well, more power to her," James said with a look that said that he didn't believe that Victoire would be able to handle a Remembrance Day without any sleep, but he didn't argue about it.

Teddy pulled James into a tight hug after that and patted him on the back, "You were wonderful tonight."

"Really?" James asked as he pulled away a little and looked Teddy in the eye.

"Of course," Teddy replied, "Even Nadia said you were doing wonderful. She might not say it to your face directly because her mood swings have been potentially lethal lately, but she was impressed."

James actually blushed a little, "Well thanks for being the messenger then." He gestured to the sofa and arrangement of chairs in his living room and told Teddy to sit.

Teddy avoided the armchair that had a half-drunk glass of liquid next to it, he assumed that that had been the spot James had vacated to open the door for him, and sat down on the sofa right next to the chair. James sat down in his own chair, noticed his own drink, and then belatedly asked his god-brother if he could get him anything.

"Well what are you drinking?" Teddy asked as he eyed the dark green liquid in James's transparent glass.

James made a bit of a face, "Actually it's that replenishing health drink Vic used to make us drink after a hard practice or game at school."

"That one that tastes like over-boiled broccoli but is good for your electrolytes?" Teddy asked with a bit of a smirk.

"Did she make you drink it too?" James asked curiously.

Teddy chuckled, "She started insisting everyone on the team drink it during my last year as captain. I didn't have the energy to argue with her when she started showing me pages of data on how drinks like those helped decrease instances of mineral dehydration or whatever the hell it was she was saying."

"Yeah," James said fondly as he looked back at his drink, "So do you want one of these, or a butterbeer?"

"Butterbeer please," Teddy responded with a laugh.

James got to his feet to get the drink out of the fridge even though he could have easily summoned it with magic –mostly because his mother had told him that doing so to any guests he may have was rude– but he did toss the bottle to Teddy when he got back into the living room.

Teddy caught it easily and unscrewed the top, "I know that you're probably tired, but I wanted to come over in case you felt like you needed to verbally decompress on someone."

"I feel both exhausted and oddly jittery at the same time," James admitted in a rush before taking another sip of the post-game concoction Victoire had recommended for him.

His god-brother smiled indulgently, "I thought that might be the case."

"But I don't understand why I feel like this when it's not my first time playing for Nadia in a game," James confessed.

Teddy sipped his butterbeer, "May I throw out a suggestion?"

James waved his hand as if to say 'go for it'.

"I think you may feel this way because you know people were judging you much more this time. Before when you filled in for Nadia, people didn't find out until just before the game. Now people know that you're going to be playing that position for the next nine months and they're going to expect more out of you than just someone who's filling in at the last minute. They were all scrutinizing you tonight and imagining that this is what they're going to see from now on. It's a lot of pressure."

James put his drink down and made eye-contact with Teddy, "I'd accuse you of using _Legillimency_ on me but I don't even think that I'm thinking those thoughts anywhere near as coherently right now as you just said them."

"Telling you not to worry isn't going to help you, so I'm just going to tell you that you should remember how much effort you've put into this and how much practicing you've done. You've done the work and put in the time, trust in that and in your skills," Teddy told James encouragingly.

James smiled in appreciation, but before their conversation could get mushy he decided to crack a joke, "So I don't need any more extra practice playing with my opposite arm or across my midline?"

Teddy snorted, "Now I didn't say that. You still relied _way _too heavily on your left side for a centre chaser."

"I guess I shouldn't quite cancel those extra practices with Selene just yet then," James bantered back.

His god-brother smiled just a little bit and took another sip from his bottle of butterbeer, "Do you feel that your practice with her on Sunday helped a lot?"

"Definitely," James replied with an enthusiastic nod, "She gave me a lot of helpful advice and she wasn't shy about correcting my form as we practiced throwing and catching with my non-dominant side."

Teddy smiled bigger, "That doesn't surprise me."

Both men were quite for a few moments as they sipped their beverages. Once James had swallowed the last of his electrolyte replenishing drink Teddy set his almost finished bottle of butterbeer down on the coffee table in front of him.

"So do you have another date set up with Selene for this weekend?"

James's eyes went wide and he began to splutter, "Wha–but–it's not–"

"A date? I know. You're just practicing together," Teddy assured him with a smile that was a little hard to decipher.

The younger man's shoulders relaxed a little.

"So how are things going with Selene?"

James looked like he was about to blush, but at the same time an adorably exasperated expression came across his face, "She's a wonderful coach and very supportive. She's a brilliant centre chaser to start with but she's also really good at explaining how to play the position and all of the intricacies involved. To be honest if Neville had known how good of a coach she is, he very well might have picked her as Gryffindor quidditch Captain instead of me."

"It seems like Selene Spiros has an endless amount of good qualities."

"_Teddy_," James groaned in warning.

The metamorphmagus ignored his tone. The last time he had discussed this with James he had been a gentle presence who had been there to listen. He didn't ask any questions or do any pushing. This time however, he felt that James might be in the need of a little bit more of a push.

"So how _are_ things going with Selene?"

"You just asked me that," James retorted avoiding eye-contact with his god-brother. He knew exactly what he was referring to, but he wanted to play dumb.

"The first time I asked, quidditch practice was the implied theme. This time I'm asking about everything _non_-quidditch related," Teddy explained needlessly.

James's fingers started tapping anxiously on the arm of his chair, "There isn't anything non-quidditch related going on between me and Selene."

"Do you really expect me to believe that?" Teddy asked with a quirked eyebrow.

"Whatever there might have been, at one time, is all behind me now Teddy," James insisted somewhat cryptically. It was a slightly different tone than what he said a little more than a week ago when they'd last, somewhat cryptically, discussed the same topic.

Teddy quirked another eyebrow, "You spent the last year avoiding pretty much all purposeful contact with Selene Spiros because you have absolutely no feelings for her?"

James started picking at his nail beds, "I don't know what you want from me right now Teddy."

"All I want to know is if _you_ know what you want from your relationship with Selene."

The younger man let out a long sigh, "We're friends. She's a great friend. There's no need to push for anything else between us."

"What if there's something there without you even needing to push?" Teddy asked sagely.

James kept picking at his nail beds even though there were no hangnails left to pluck, "There isn't anything more there."

"I've spoken to a few reliable sources that report the opposite."

The younger man didn't even bother to ask who these _reliable _sources could be. Weasleys (and Cecilia for that matter) were damn nosey beings.

"There _can't_ be anything more there," He maintained forcefully.

Teddy waited a few moments so that James was forced to make eye-contact with him, "Why can't there be?"

"We've discussed this already! With what happened last year and how everything went down with me and her and Mélanie, if the media were to find out it could be horrible for our careers and-"

Teddy interrupted James's spiralling, "And that excuse worked when you'd been avoiding significant contact with her for a year, but now that you've renewed your friendship people are going to start to speculate even if you're actually not more than just friends. It might all still come out in the media even if you aren't anything more with Selene than just a friend."

James stopped picking at his nailbeds and grabbed a handful of his hair; perfectly exhibiting the most obvious sign of stress there was for any male Potter.

"But you shouldn't waste all of this time and effort worrying about what the media is going to say about you. They're going to say a lot about you during your career and most of it's going to be completely fake. Are you really going to let the fear of what the media might say about you, affect who you chose to spend your time with?" Teddy asked him in a gentle tone.

James grabbed another handful of hair and as he pulled on his short dark locks he looked like he was still battling internally with something else that he hadn't quite voiced yet.

"I can't help worrying about it, if they find out-"

"About a rumour that's completely untrue? All that should matter is that-" Teddy stopped himself this time. As he was speaking he was closely watching James's face and he noted when his god-brother's skin went almost greenish grey. Instead of his words calming James down, they seemed to be riling him up even more.

"What's wrong James?"

He almost pulled out a few strands of hair, "But what will the media do when they find out there's truth to the rumour?"

"Well most rumours are based in some sort of truth but-"

James interrupted him and sighed heavily, "You just – you don't get it."

Teddy frowned, "What is there not to get? You told me what happened last year and how Selene unintentionally got involved in your break-up with Mélanie . . . unless there was more to the story that you didn't tell me?"

The younger man ground his teeth together, "You know how I told you that Will _bloody_ Dyson started that rubbish rumour last year that I was cheating on Mélanie with Selene?"

Teddy nodded. That was definitely the main part of the story that he had heard from James, even though he had done his best to keep that information from his parents and the rest of his family when explaining about his and Mélanie's break-up.

"And how I told you that even though I did my best to quash the rumour, Mélanie still got really jealous about it and it led to our break-up?"

His god-brother nodded again, remembering how James had shed a few tears of frustration when telling him about how his first _real _relationship had ended so horridly.

"I lied to you."

Teddy frowned again, this time in confusion, "About what?"

"I did cheat on Mélanie."

It took a few moments for Teddy to register the ashamed whisper of James's words into an actual sentence in his mind.

"With who?" He asked, both stunned and still rather confused.

James almost rolled his eyes at the ridiculous question, "With Selene."

Teddy's turquoise eyebrows narrowed over his dark blue eyes, "Are you sure?"

It was a bit of a ridiculous question to ask someone, but the fact that James would cheat on Mélanie was a ridiculous concept in the first place. The fact that he would actually cheat on Mélanie with someone as morally upstanding as Selene Spiros was even more ludicrous, their previous history notwithstanding.

"Yes. I kissed Selene while I was still dating Mélanie."

Teddy's confusion started to abate a little with this clarification, "You're not talking about that mistake you made under the mistletoe are you? You accidentally kissing Selene on the lips when she was stuck under the mistletoe instead of on the cheek is understandable. Especially after Freddie had spelled it so that one sprig would follow her around half the day-"

"That's not what I'm talking about," James interrupted stressfully.

At this point James stood up from his chair and started pacing around his living room, still pulling at his hair.

Teddy next words were slow and measured, "What are you talking about then?"

"I kissed Selene while I was still dating Mélanie, and it wasn't because of mistletoe. It happened just before Mel and I broke up before graduation."

Teddy was silent for several moments as he tried to digest this information. He studied James's face closely, and even though he wanted so many more details about what exactly happened between him, Selene, and Mélanie, there was something more important for him to talk to James about.

"And you feel extremely guilty about it?" Teddy summarized.

"Of course I feel guilty about it!" James exclaimed suddenly with a level of passion that surprised Teddy at first, "I cheated on my girlfriend, making a fake rumour that was already going around about my cheating on my girlfriend become real. It doesn't matter if Mélanie and I were already practically over by the time the whole thing went down, I still betrayed her and her trust. And not only that but I also treated Selene terribly by making her the other woman when there was already a rumour going on about her being the other woman that we were working hard to quash, so if people were to find out that the rumour actually ended up being real-"

Teddy reached to James and placed what he hoped was a comforting hand on James's shoulder, "_Whoa_, _whoa_, take a deep breath mate."

He actually waited until James took a few deep breaths before speaking again, "You threw out a lot of information there and it was a little hard to follow along. Do you want to go back to the beginning and tell me the whole story a little more slowly? I'd like to know what did happen between you and Selene, because apparently there's a lot more than I previously thought."

Teddy almost felt bad about bringing up the topic of Selene now that he was seeing how difficult it was for James, but another part of him felt that after hearing more from James it was now even more obvious that there was a lot that James needed to get off his chest in concern to his relationship with Selene.

James ran both of his hands distractedly through his hair three times before he let out a long exhale and started his explanation from the beginning.

* * *

**A/N:** Dun, dun, dun! I guess there's more to James and Selene's relationship than meets the eye. I also squeezed some Eliza and Benjamin in there because I know you lot were missing them. Also, poor Baxter, he really walked in on Victoire and Molly at the wrong time.

**Fun:** Earlier in the week one of my readers, **Beckster384** (thanks again!), messaged me to let me know that Oprah magazine online had published an article on May 13th about the '51 of the Best Harry Potter Fan Fiction Stories on the Internet' and they listed about 5 stories from different categories of HP fanfictions. The first story in this series, _Try and Tri Again,_ was mentioned as one of the best in the Next Gen section, which is really cool! You can easily google Oprah magazine and the title of the article and find the article if you'd like suggestions of other good fanfic stories to read as well.

**Next Update:** I won't lie to you. I have no idea when it's goign to happen. Here in Ontario we're still mostly shut down and we're having trouble lowering our curve enough to get to the next stage of opening, so my life is still up in the air right now, as I'm sure most people's are in this day and age.

**Next Chapter:** Remembrance Day at Hogwarts complete with ceremony, Hogwarts kiddos, and drama.

I want to thank everybody who had followed, favourited, read, and especially reviewed this story!

BIGGEST thank-yous as always to:

**Saagarika, Emely, clessard, M, MuggleCreator, Guest (1), frozen-in-change, audrey3horses, NicoleTheSmith, Izzy, ASlytherinGal, no cure for crazy, loveislife94, rosesnlilies, Break This Spell626, Egret27, zvc56, Jily71102, **and** Fangirl**.

**Saagarika:** Don't worry, it won't be the last time we see Mr. Westcott.

**Emely:** Greetings back from Canada.

**clessard**: Cringey enough?

**frozen-in-change:** Orrel is a new character, you didn't read it wrong. And thank you for your happy thoughts.

**NicoleTheSmith:** I don't think Spencer could handle France, especially since he doesn't speak the language.

**Izzy:** As always, wonderful questions and summations :)

**no cure for crazy:** We're doing a lot of yard work here as well, we've planted a vegetable garden this year and I keep sending my brother snapchats of it's daily growth. Thank you for the good wishes for my family, luckily we're all doing well.

**loveislife94:** I'm glad you enjoy the series so much, the main reason why I started writing the first story all those years ago is because I couldn't find any Teddy/Vic fanfics that I felt encompassed how I thought the characters would be, so I wrote my own. Thanks for the suggestion, I have read a lot of Marauder stuff but I don't know if I've read that one.

**I hope everyone enjoyed this story,**

**I hope that everyone is presently as well as they can be, **

**Please leave me a comment, question, or review to let me know what you thought of this story,**

**Until next time stay safe, listen to your local public health authorities, and DFTBA!**


	17. Happy Birthday to Who?

**A/N:** Hi everyone, it took me a while to write this chapter and I originally intended to cut it into two but there wasn't a good place to do so, so this chapter is super long. I'm sure you guys won't mind much though ;)

(Spoiler Alert: I think it's a good one)

**Disclaimer:** I do not own _Harry Potter_.

**Warning:** There's a bit of language in this one, but I don't think it's particularly vulgar. Also, there's quite a bit of a tonal shift in this chap compared to the other ones we've seen so far, so don't be surprised by the different feel of it.

* * *

**Recap:** A few chapters ago we met Vic's awful ex and I think you all knew that it wouldn't be the last time we saw him. As you know (from the first story) I ascribe to the cannon theory that Victoire was born on the anniversary of the Battle of Hogwarts, even though her relationship to her specific day of birth is difficult for her to come to terms with. Nobody younger than her (her cousins and siblings for example) know when her actual birthday it.

* * *

**Happy Birthday to Who?**

**Thursday, May 2nd 2024**

**9:15 AM**

Victoire growled at her reflection in the mirror and pulled her hair out of the lopsided bun she'd just twisted it into and shook it out. She stared at the mirror in frustration and let out another growl as she tried to think of another hairstyle to put her hair into. She'd tried four different hairstyles already that morning and none of them worked. It figured that that day of all days was the one day a year she was fated to have a bad hair day.

Fortunately for her hair, Teddy walked into their en suite bathroom before she had the chance to angrily overreact to her bad hair situation and transfigure something into scissors and give herself a homemade haircut.

"We've got to leave soon Love," Teddy told her in a quiet tone as he leaned against the empty doorframe.

Victoire let out another exasperated sound, this one a little more muffled so that Teddy didn't hear exactly how close she was to calling it quits for the rest of the day before it even had the chance to start, and grabbed an elastic and pulled her loose blonde hair up into a high ponytail. It was a last resort but it was all she could really do to make her hair presentable. In hindsight she probably should have woken up earlier that morning so she'd have time for a proper shower and to wash and dry her hair, but when she'd arrived back at her flat early that morning after her night shift in the D. A. R. ward all she had been thinking about was getting in as much sleep as she could before having to get ready for the ceremony.

Despite the difficulty she was having with her hair, she didn't regret getting an extra half hour of sleep in, in lieu of properly washing and styling her hair. She was still a little groggy however, as she'd only been awake for about twenty minutes since she'd taken her, roughly two and a half hour long, power nap.

Even though she'd set her alarm to wake her up, Teddy had turned it off so that he could wake her up instead. He had gently showered her face with soft kisses until she woke up, and she sent him as much of a smile as she could in her grumpy sleep-deprived state. However, before he could give her a proper good morning kiss, Victoire slipped out of the bed and immediately began searching through her closet for clothes to wear that day.

It only took her twenty minutes to dress herself in a charcoal grey dress with a pencil skirt that ended mid-calf, complete her regular morning routine along with washing her face and brushing her teeth, and slap on some basic make-up including a surprising amount of cover-up for the dark shadows under her eyes. Her hair was taking her longer than she expected, so even though she was still mad at her own hair's inability to cooperate, she did appreciate Teddy giving her a head's up about the time.

Victoire grabbed some dark red lipstick that was magically guaranteed to last eight hours, carefully applied it to her lips, and then tossed the stick back into its drawer, "Is the kettle still warm?"

"Lukewarm," Teddy replied.

She knew she didn't have a lot of time, so that was good enough, "I'll take it."

He turned and walked out of the bathroom in his smart dress robes and Victoire followed behind him all the way to the kitchen. She waved her hand to summon the lukewarm kettle, the tea, and a mug to her and began to quickly make herself a cup of tea once she reached the counter. She had her eyes fixed on her tea-making process and only just noted that Teddy had sidled up right next to her.

He pressed a kiss to the side of her head, and slid a ceramic plate towards her that held a beautifully decorated cupcake with the words 'Happy Birthday' written in gold icing on top, "Want some breakfast?"

Victoire's gaze shifted to the playful smirk on Teddy's face only to drop almost immediately back to the mug of almost cold tea sitting in front of her. The happy expression on his handsome face made her heart ache and she couldn't look at him any longer. She swallowed a lump that had suddenly developed in her throat.

"I didn't know that birthday cake was an acceptable breakfast food."

"You can have whatever you want on your birthday," Teddy informed her with another smile, this one a little strained as he felt her body tense beside him.

She sighed heavily and pushed the cupcake away, "Maybe later. I'll stick to tea for now."

He pushed the plate back towards her, "I'd prefer if you had something in your stomach before we leave. It's going to be a long day."

Victoire wanted to roll her eyes but instead she picked up the cupcake and tried to take a small bite of it without dropping crumbs all over her clothes. In between tiny circumspect bites of the cupcake, she drank large mouthfuls of cold tea. Despite the fact that the tea was much less appetizing cold, she didn't have the energy to pull her wand out and use a delicate heating charm on it, so she guzzled it down as unpalatable as it was because she really needed the caffeine to perk her up. She'd barely made it halfway through the cupcake when an owl appeared at their kitchen window and knocked on the glass. Teddy let it in and took the rolled up piece of parchment paper from its leg; the owl flew away, obviously not waiting for a response.

The metamorphmagus, whose hair was a subdued dark brown almost-black shade that morning, read the note quickly and then glanced at where Victoire was still only halfway through her makeshift breakfast, "Harry wants me to get to Hogwarts a little earlier; he wants to discuss some of the ceremony's safety measures before it begins."

"I'll meet you there then," Victoire replied indifferently as she continued to pick at her cupcake. Even though it tasted really good all of the sugar from the rich cake and sugary icing was starting to sit heavily in her stomach.

Teddy raised an eyebrow at her, "You're going to have to come with me Vic. If I leave you here by yourself you're likely to close your eyes for just a few seconds too long, end up falling asleep standing up, and then miss the entire ceremony."

Victoire glanced down at the cupcake in her hands and muttered sarcastically under her breath 'and that would be bad because?' in a tone too quiet for Teddy to hear.

"So we need to leave right now?"

He nodded his head and pulled out his wand to quickly tidy up their kitchen. Her empty mug of tea flew away from her, and she stepped towards the sink and leaned over it as she shoved the rest of the cupcake into her mouth and began to chew and swallow it. She'd just shoved the last few crumbs into her mouth when Teddy grabbed her hand and pulled her out of the kitchen and out their front door. She swallowed her last mouthful of cake just seconds before they disapparated.

When their feet landed on the ground just in front of Hogwarts's open front gates Victoire felt her stomach roll and bubble. Her face must have shown the nausea she was suddenly feeling because Teddy eyed her worriedly as they began the trek up to the castle. He chose not to say anything about it though, and Victoire took some deep breaths through her mouth as he hastily ushered her towards the castle with his hand on the small of her back.

Even though Harry had asked Teddy to come a little earlier so they could discuss some security issues for the ceremony –several of Teddy and Jilly's first-year aurors in training were part of the security force that day– there were still a surprising amount of people entering the castle's grounds and milling about waiting for the ceremony that was more than an hour or more away.

The year before had been the twenty-fifth anniversary of the battle at Hogwarts and the end of the last war, and because they had celebrated such a milestone the normal ceremony had been changed to be extra special and almost double the amount of people had attended the ceremony the year before than there usually was, and that meant that a lot of people were left standing as they hadn't anticipated needing as many seats as they actually did. It seemed that since there had been so many people last year, this year people were arriving earlier for the ceremony so that they could guarantee seating for themselves.

Despite the deep breaths Victoire was taking to try to calm her churning stomach, she was still feeling nauseous by the time they found Harry around the back of the castle near the courtyard, close to where the ceremony would take place. Harry greeted them both quickly once he saw them, and he was about to start discussing with Teddy whatever it was that he thought was super important when he noticed the slightly bug-eyed expression on his niece's face.

"Are you alright Victoire?"

Without thinking about it she started to hastily nod her head.

It was a big mistake.

The motion made her previously churning stomach start to lift up and she could feel something trying to crawl up her throat.

"Going to the loo. 'Scuse me," She blurted out to both her uncle and her fiancé before she dashed towards the castle as fast as her high-heeled shoes could carry her.

She found the closest washroom and ran inside, realizing –bloody thankfully– that there was no one else in there at present, and then slipped into the first cubicle just in time to retch and gag into the toilet bowl. The entire contents of her stomach, including the cold tea and birthday cupcake she'd had for breakfast that morning, emptied into the loo in less than thirty seconds. After that she spent several moments dry heaving, she thought she was almost done when she heard someone else enter the washroom. Whoever it was, was also in a hurry and Victoire concentrated on the sound of the other person's hasty breathing and movements instead of focusing on how her stomach was still churning. There was a rapid patter of the other person's footsteps and then the sound of a cubicle door opening and then closing next to her. The other person then knelt on the floor and started making sounds that made it very apparent that she was also vomiting.

A part of Victoire was concerned for whoever was in the stall next to her, while the other part of her heard the retching and felt her stomach trying to crawl up her throat again. The next second she was gagging again, this time bringing up nothing but bile as it was the only thing left in her stomach. When her stomach finally began to settle she noted that the person next to her had also stopped. Victoire left the cubicle and went to the closest sink to wash her hands and rinse her mouth out with the tap water. After rinsing her mouth she glanced up at the mirror and spotted the other woman leaving her stall.

Victoire took a deep breath and turned to face the other poor woman who had been vomiting, "Apparation sickness?"

Nadia Cassano had been surprised to be so suddenly addressed in the loo, but when she turned her head she was relieved to see Victoire, "When is this morning sickness going to end?"

"It'll only be a few more weeks," Victoire assured Nadia as the other woman joined her at the line of sinks.

Nadia groaned and rubbed a hand across her clammy face, "A few more weeks or a few more months?"

"Uh-"

"Never mind, I don't want the answer anymore," Nadia complained as she cupped her hands under the running faucet and splashed her face with water. If she had been wearing any make-up at all it would have been completely ruined; fortunately however, Nadia wasn't the type to wear make-up.

Victoire stepped towards Nadia and patted the pregnant quidditch player on the shoulder, "What are you doing here so early anyway?"

"Malcolm was asked to write an article about the ceremony today so he wanted to get here early," Nadia explained, as she spoke her face shifted from slightly green back to her normal olive tone.

"Really? Which publication?"

Nadia didn't have the chance to answer because at that moment another woman rushed in and made a beeline for the loo cubicles. Victoire stared after the woman in surprise; she'd recognized her when she first stepped into the washroom, but she hadn't had the chance to call out to her since she had rushed to a stall and started vomiting.

Listening to the other woman being sick made Nadia's face go green again, and she swore in Italian before running back to the cubicle she'd previously vacated and started vomiting again. The sounds of both poor pregnant women retching had Victoire's stomach starting to roil again, but she kept everything down with sheer willpower alone. As she tried to focus on not throwing up like the other two women were, she realized that not only was her stomach still queasy but she had also developed quite the headache.

Nadia finished tossing her cookies before the other woman did, and she met Victoire back at the sinks, "Malcolm better be happy with whatever child pops out of me, because I am not having another one after what this one's already making me go through."

Victoire bit her lip to avoid terrifying Nadia even more by informing her that she still had a lot of pregnancy to go through, as well as the delivery itself.

The other women finally stopped vomiting and left her cubicle and Victoire gave her a sympathetic look and repeated the first thing she said to Nadia, "Apparation sickness?"

Jilly Donaldson shook her head slowly to avoid making herself nauseous again, "No, I got here about twenty minutes ago to get some of the trainee aurors in place."

"Then what caused your nausea?" Victoire asked as Jilly walked towards one of the sinks.

"Nerves. I just realized that all of Caleb's students are going to see me with him and find out that I'm pregnant," Jilly said with a sigh.

Nadia eyed Jilly's round midsection that made it very apparent that she was a few months pregnant, "You have popped quite a bit since I last saw you on Sunday."

"I know, and now a whole bunch of bratty teenagers are going to be gossiping about us behind our backs," Jilly complained. She glanced quickly at Victoire, "No offense meant to your cousins."

Victoire waved her off, "Don't worry about it, they can all be bratty and they will definitely be gossiping about this before the day ends."

"Wonderful," Jilly muttered with a scowl.

Nadia turned her gaze from Jilly's baby bump to Victoire, "Why were you throwing up when I got in here?"

Jilly looked at Victoire shrewdly, "You were sick as well?"

"Yeah, what can I say? Don't scarf down half a cupcake and then apparate immediately afterwards," Victoire said with a long sigh.

Nadia raised an eyebrow at her, "A cupcake for breakfast?"

"I worked all night at the hospital and I've only had about two hours of sleep since I finished my shift. My eating habits are messed up," She explained somewhat truthfully instead of telling them the truth about it being her birthday.

The only people who knew it was her birthday were Teddy, her parents, grandparents, and aunts and uncles. Her siblings and her cousins didn't know, and in her opinion they didn't need to know. She'd gotten marginally better over the years in allowing Teddy to celebrate her birthday with her when it was just the two of them, but she still avoided any chance to tell her siblings and her cousins the truth.

Jilly and Nadia left the washroom a few moments later, leaving Victoire behind. Once they were gone Victoire took a minute to appreciate the silence around her and tried to pinpoint exactly where her head was aching. She found the pain was mostly emanating from the top of her head, and she knew that the loud sounds from the ceremony were going to make it worst. She definitely should have drank more caffeine before leaving for Hogwarts that morning.

Victoire was berating herself under her breath for not taking a Pepper-Up potion in preparation for the day when she exited the washroom, and she noted that there were a lot more people milling about the castle and the grounds who were arriving for the ceremony. Several of the Hogwarts students were just starting to come down from their dorms or exiting the Great Hall from breakfast, and even the low din of noise from the moderately sized crowd of people around was starting to make her headache worse.

She'd just made it out into the courtyard when she heard someone call her name. Victoire turned around slowly and forced a smile onto her face just as Lily Potter came running up to her, the rest of her cousins still at Hogwarts were a few metres behind her. Lily pulled Victoire into a hug and made it very obvious to the latter that Victoire was the first of their family outside of Hogwarts that Lily had seen so far that day. Hugo Weasley was only a step behind his cousin, with Rose and Al a few feet behind him. Victoire quickly traded greetings and hugs with all of her younger cousins, and then she eyed them all carefully.

"Any of you got a Pepper-Up or a headache curing potion stashed somewhere?"

Lily, Hugo, and Al all shook their heads while Rose pursed her lips curiously, "What do you need it for?"

"I worked a nightshift last night and I have a headache from sleep-depravation," Victoire explained.

Rose nodded, "Oh, I don't have anything to help then."

"_Ugh_," Victoire groaned overly sarcastically, "What good are you lot for then?"

They all rolled their eyes good-naturedly and Victoire gave them all a little wave as she walked away to find Teddy and see who else from their family had already arrived.

Lily bounced out into the courtyard right after Victoire, yelling something over her shoulder to Hugo about going to see if James had arrived yet so she could congratulate him in person about getting bumped up to the starting team. Hugo followed after her, leaving Al and Rose alone for a moment.

"Two galleons says that Vic'll fall asleep roughly thirty minutes into the ceremony speeches," Al told Rose with a wicked smirk.

Rose smiled slightly, "Did you see her? I'd say she'll be out in less than twenty."

Al held his hand out to Rose and they shook hands firmly. They'd just dropped each other's hands when they spotted Scorpius Malfoy strolling towards them, "Do I even want to know what that was all about?"

Al smirked at his best friend as Scorpius sidled up to Rose and wrapped his arm around her waist, "No, probably not. We were just making a bet."

Scorpius raised an eyebrow at Al but didn't ask any more questions. Which was a good thing, because a few other people heard the end of Al's statement as they came up behind the group.

"What's this about a bet?" Freddie Weasley asked curiously as he joined his cousins.

Rose rolled her eyes at him, Freddie loved making bets, "Just betting on how long Vic'll last before conking out from working her night shift."

Freddie smirk broadly and immediately began digging through the pockets of his dress robes to see if he could find a loose sickle or galleon. While he did this James, who hadn't said anything yet in favour at nodding politely in hello to his brother, Rose, and Scorpius, pursed his lips in consideration, "She worked several extra midnight shifts this week because she needed time off for both her bridal shower and for today. According to Molly and Baxter her sleep schedule seems to be giving her weird mood swings."

Freddie finally found three loose sickles and handed them to Al, whom the former had just decided should be in charge of the money for the new betting pool, "As if she wasn't having weird mood swings before her work and sleep schedule changed this week."

"James, Lily and Hugo just left to find you so they could congratulate you on your new promotion to the starting team," Rose told her older cousin with a congratulatory smile of her own.

James shoved his hands into his pockets, "Yeah I know, I saw her stalking towards me and we slipped away before she could get to us. I wasn't ready to deal with her quite yet this morning. I don't think her feet even touched the ground once as she tried to skip towards me."

"Smart move," Al agreed with a nod, "And I heard you played great last night. Congrats again."

"Thanks," James replied with a blush and a smile.

Scorpius offered his own congratulations to James before asking the group when their parents expected them to join them near the front at their seats.

"Actually Mum and Dad said we don't need to sit with them in the _perfect photo_ _row_ this year. Since we were so well behaved last year with the twenty-fifth anniversary they said we can take a break this year and sit wherever we want as long as we don't make a scene," James explained, "Oh, this goes for all of us and the cousins too."

Al and Rose both looked relieved at the information, "Thank Merlin."

"Shall we go ahead and look for a row of seats far away from the front stage then?" Scorpius asked the group with a raised eyebrow.

They nodded their heads and as group they slowly began to walk towards the main seating areas set up for the ceremony.

"We need to save a spot for Alice too or she's threatened to do several things that do not bear repeating," Al explained to the group.

Scorpius smirked upon hearing that Alice had creatively implied something threatening enough to worry Al, "And one for Kieran as well I assume?"

"No," Rose interrupted with a shake of her head, "Before I left our dorm for breakfast this morning Alice informed me that she and Kieran are now off again."

"Are they still doing that?" James asked tiredly in reference to Alice Longbottom's sometimes fickle relationship with her boyfriend Kieran Chang.

Rose sighed, "Sort of. It's been months since their last break-up, and their last one only lasted a few days. With their previous history in mind the precedent is that they'll be back together again before the end of the week."

"Although, to play devil's advocate," Al joined the conversation, "Graduation _is_ fast approaching and half of Hogwarts relationships end just before or just after graduation."

"Or," Freddie added with a wicked grin, "If you are Nolan Finnegan and Teagan Childs your relationship ends right in the middle of the graduation ceremony with what would have been a spectacular screaming match if Selene Spiros hadn't used a silencing spell on them both before they could really get started."

Al chuckled at the memory of the almost-scene at his brother's graduation the year before, "I almost forgot about that. I wonder if anything that interesting will happen at ours."

Scorpius smirked, "Don't say that in front of Lily and Hugo. They've got almost two months to plan something _entertaining_ for ours if they wanted to."

"Please don't repeat that in front of Lily or Hugo," Rose begged as her eyes suddenly went wide as she thought about all manner of mischief and absurdity that her cousins could deploy upon their upcoming graduation ceremony.

Her boyfriend squeezed her shoulder comfortingly and promised that he wouldn't say anything about graduation pranks in front of her younger cousins. Al on the other hand abstained from making any such promise, and Rose noted his explicit lack of assurance. Normally Rose would have worked on Al a little longer to get him to make a similar promise, but before she had the chance she was distracted by someone calling her name from behind her.

Rose and her companions turned slightly so that they could see Norah Summers walking towards them as quickly as she could in the tight navy-blue pencil skirt she was wearing. She got to them quickly and then began speaking rapidly to her intended target.

"Rose, you will never guess the gossip that I just heard-" Norah stopped suddenly, only just realizing that Rose had an entourage larger than just her regular crew of Al and Scorpius. "Oh hey there Captain! Heard you were great in the game last night!"

Norah compounded the latter half of her statement by throwing herself at James and giving him a tight hug in greeting.

James chuckled and patted Norah on the back, "Thanks Norah. How're you doing?"

Norah pulled away from James and smiled brightly, "I'm doing well. These last few days of Arithmancy are kicking my arse though so I'm gonna need to put in a little extra time with that. Actually Rose, I could really use your brain for this week's assignment."

Rose tried to keep a straight face as she listened to Norah's rather disjointed tangent, "Of course Norah. But is that the gossip that you came over here to tell me about?"

"Oh, no," Norah replied as her head whipped back to Rose's direction, "That's not the gossip. The gossip is that Professor Cooke's going to have a baby. I just saw him standing next to his girlfriend and Auror Donaldson definitely looks like she's got a baby bump going on."

"Really?" Rose asked interestedly, "Because I saw her on Sunday at Victoire's bridal shower and I couldn't tell that she was pregnant. Although I didn't really look that closely at her . . ."

"Merlin that's going to be a lot of babies in half a year," Freddie remarked cavalierly.

Norah's attention shifted quickly from Rose over to Rose's cousin. A slow smile spread across Norah's face as she gave Freddie's dress robe clad body a long look, "Hi Freddie."

"Hey Norah," Freddie replied with a secretive smile of his own.

Everyone around the pair let out a sigh and James even face-palmed himself.

"Godric let's not get into _this _again," Al complained as he rolled his eyes at the silent conversation going on between Norah and Freddie that seemed to consist of only mysterious smiles and lustful glances.

His words weren't that loud, but Norah still overheard it. Without taking her eyes off of Freddie she addressed Al rather succinctly, "Piss off Potter."

Rose largely ignored the pair, but she was still interested in discussing one of the topics that Norah had brought up, "Did you guys know that Auror Donaldson was pregnant?"

Her question was addressed to both Potters as their father was also an auror, albeit one more likely to share information about work than her own father was.

Al shook his head while James pursed his lips in consideration, "I hadn't heard anything about it from Dad, but Teddy did mention that he and Auror Donaldson had been assigned to training the department's trainees for the next few months. Which makes sense as to why she's been reassigned if she's pregnant."

"Why's Teddy been reassigned to training then?" Scorpius asked curiously.

"Since the wedding's only two months away Kingsley didn't want to chance him getting put on an active case before it," James explained.

"Ahhh."

Norah and Freddie had finally peeled their eyes away from each other's and rejoined the conversation, "I can't believe that my cousin Hayden didn't tell me about this earlier."

Al scoffed, "He was probably respecting his colleague's privacy."

"Well now everyone knows," Norah announced excitedly, "I wonder when she's due . . ."

The group had stopped their original trek to the seating area when Norah had reached them, but as more and more people were arriving and getting to their seats Rose was beginning to feel anxious about saving seats for themselves.

"Are you planning on sitting with Christen somewhere for the ceremony Norah, or would you like to come with us as we get seats?" Rose asked her teammate as she gestured with her hand towards the seating area.

"Are you lot not sitting with your parents?"

Rose shook her head, "It's not mandatory this year."

"Thank Merlin," Freddie muttered in agreement.

"Alright then," Norah agreed with a bright smile and a sideways glance at Freddie.

Freddie winked at her.

Everyone but the two of them groaned.

"Really Mate? Literally any other day would be more appropriate than today," James hissed to Freddie in a whisper so that no one else could hear.

Rose and Scorpius led the way towards the chairs, Al and Norah behind them and continuing to gossip about Auror Donaldson and Professor Cooke's baby, with Freddie and James bringing up the rear.

"What'd I do?" Freddie asked with honest bewilderment.

James shook his head, "Nothing. Can you just promise to wait until after all of the speeches and the moment of silence before you try to convince Norah to go off to a broom closet and snog you?"

"Of course, I'm not a complete degenerate."

The group chose their seats almost as far away from where their family would be sitting as possible, as was their plan.

Closer to the front row and where the platform and the podium sat were Victoire, Teddy, and several other of their friends and family members.

After Victoire had left the bathroom she easily found her fiancé, who had in the interim time already come across both Ally and Xavier and Sandra and Kyle. The three couples spoke softly about mundane things as they waited for the ceremony to start, which suited Victoire just fine as she was distracted by the still pounding pain in her head and the disconcertingly hallow feeling of her stomach that had been there since the conclusion of her vomiting session.

More and more people began to arrive and the group decided that they should start taking their seats. Victoire had a sudden attack of stabbing pain directly above her right eyebrow and was mostly focused on trying to ignore the pain as she allowed Teddy to drag her to a chair next to him. On Teddy's other side there was an empty chair left for Andromeda for when she finished talking to one of her acquaintances, and just past that chair were Ally and Xavier and Kyle and Sandra.

The chair on the other side of Victoire was also empty and, in between rubbing the area of her head that her headache was emitting from, she had enough foresight to hope that she didn't get stuck with someone next to her for the ceremony that would be unbearable like Austin Pennington or Colton Knott.

Unfortunately for her, almost the minute she thought the name Colton Knott he –and his wife– appeared as if from thin air and sat down in the empty seats next to her.

"Good morning," Anastasia told Victoire and Teddy quietly.

"Morning," Teddy replied with a smile.

Colton was less polite than the former two, "Here."

Victoire blinked down at his hand in confusion before she registered the thin canister in his hand that Colton was holding out to her as he sat in the chair directly next to her.

"Is that a thermos?" Victoire questioned him confusedly.

Colton rolled his eyes and deposited the thermos into her open hand, "Yes. Full of tea. I was told it was required to bring if you were going to make it through the ceremony without hexing someone."

She glanced from the thermos and then to Teddy, "Want to explain this?"

"You need the caffeine and Colton was the only one still at home when I started to make my calls," Teddy answered easily.

Victoire pursed her lips at the thermos and then glanced back at Colton, "How do I know that you haven't poisoned this?"

"How _do_ you know that I haven't spiked it with something like veritaserum?" He retorted with a raised eyebrow.

She smirked at him, twisted the cap off of the thermos, and brought the open lip of the thermos to her mouth so that she could take a sip of the liquid inside. After swallowing a mouthful of perfectly temperate tea she made direct contact with Colton.

"You're a wonderful friend."

Once the words were out of her mouth she looked back down at the thermos, "Nope, not spiked with veritaserum then."

Colton nodded in agreement, "No, just a slow acting poison."

"Will it bring about a painful end or will it just lull me into a deep sleep that I'll never wake up from? Because right now the second one doesn't sound half bad," She mused in-between sips of tea.

"I'm not sure," He replied with a shrug and an airy tone, "I picked a bottle at random from my poison stash so who knows what could happen?"

Victoire shrugged as well, "Well _c'est la vie_. Do you at least have my will finished?"

"All that's really left is for you to sign it, but Dom's already assured me that she can forge your signature if need be, so everything's in place if it does turn out to be fast acting," Colton assured her in his professional lawyer-voice.

She swallowed another mouthful of tea from the thermos, "Brilliant."

On either side of Victoire and Colton, their fiancé and wife, respectively, shared a look and an exasperated shake of their heads. Teddy and Anastasia began a conversation about something a little less exciting than whether or not Colton had poisoned Victoire's tea, and Victoire closed her eyes as she listened to their benign discussion.

The tea was helping her stomach settle a bit –not that she'd tell (or thank) Colton that– but it still felt like someone was chiselling away at her brain just above her eyebrow. She had hoped that her headache was being caused by caffeine withdrawal, but considering that she'd already drank half of the thermos of tea Colton had given her, she had to admit that it might take something a little stronger to make it go away. Until she could get something medical-strength, closing her eyes and keeping the sunlight out did do something for the pain in her head, therefore she kept them closed until Teddy eventually grabbed her hand and whispered to her that the ceremony was about to start.

She cracked her eyes open and was surprised to see that the previously empty seats around them had finally been filled in. Andromeda found her reserved seat next to Teddy while Victoire had had her eyes closed, and the row in front of Victoire had been filled in with the backs of several heads, many of them ones she recognized as belonging to members of her family.

None of her family members were required to make speeches that year as many of them had already done so the year before for the twenty-fifth anniversary of the battle, so for that year's Remembrance Day it was mostly ministry officials that spoke and directed the ceremony.

Like during most years, Victoire sort of zoned out during the speeches, and at some points the only way she knew that she hadn't actually fallen asleep was because Teddy would squeeze her hand every so often and remind her that he was still there with her. Despite a few ministry officials' whose voices grated a little on her headache, Victoire was able to make it through the hour and a half long ceremony without feeling like her head was being split open, and without falling asleep (thanks again to the entire thermos of tea she'd drank).

While the last speaker was wrapping up their speech, Victoire tore her eyes away from the front platform for the first time and glanced at Teddy beside her. He was staring straight ahead at the speaker, and even though his eyes did look a little watery there were neither tears nor dried tracks upon his cheeks to imply that his emotions had gotten the better of him yet. Victoire continued to stare at his face while the ministry official wrapped up her speech. She reminded everyone that the grounds and monuments were accessible for a visit along with the fact that there were refreshments available in the Great Hall. As the ministry official began thanking everyone for their attendance that day, Teddy suddenly turned his head and caught Victoire's eye.

Victoire smiled softly at him, pulled their entwined hands up to her face, and pressed a kiss against his knuckles. She mouthed the words 'I love you' to him and in response he turned towards her and pressed a kiss to the top of her head. She closed her eyes as he did so and took a deep breath. It wasn't until her eyes were closed that she realized that her eyeballs felt painfully dry.

With her eyelids still closed, she listened to the low rumble of the crowds of people around her as most of them started to get out of their seats and move away in different specified directions. Beside her she could tell that Teddy was waiting for her to make a move first. She took a few deeps breaths and then opened her eyes. The chairs around her had emptied except for Teddy, even Andromeda had gotten up and moved somewhere while she had stayed seated. Victoire glanced back at Teddy with a belatedly apologetic expression prepared for not getting up from her seat faster, but it disappeared when she realized that he was staring down at his own feet and didn't seem to be attending closely to anyone around them either.

She leaned towards him and pressed a kiss to forehead, whispering into his skin, "Ready to go?"

He nodded and in unison they slowly stood up at the same time, their hands still intertwined. Victoire intended to use her other hand to smooth down the fabric of her dress when she noticed that she still had the thermos Colton had given her (now drained of its contents) clutched in her other hand. Like many others, Colton and Anastasia had already left their chairs to go somewhere else on the grounds and Victoire did not have the energy required to do more than a cursory look around herself for them. They weren't within close view, so she figured she'd have to hold onto the thermos until she spotted them again later.

Victoire could feel the tension in Teddy's body next to her, so she let go of his hand and wrapped her arm around his waist instead. She didn't think she had much more strength in her body –or energy– than he seemed to at the moment, but she was willing to give him whatever verve she had if it would help him feel even the least bit more resilient than he already did. If she didn't have any fortitude of her own she would fake it until she passed out from exhaustion.

As their feet travelled the familiar distance from the seating area to the monuments, Teddy wrapped his own arm around her waist. His palm rested on the curve of her hip under her dress, and the pressure of his fingers were pointed as his hand clutched her body as close to his as was socially acceptable. She focused on the almost mechanical movement of her own steps instead of paying attention to the consistent ache in her frontal lobe, and within just a few minutes they had made it to their destination.

The particular monument they stood in front of looked the same as it always did, and thankfully there was plenty of free space in front of it for her and Teddy to stand. The monument had several names written across its smooth marble surface in clear and legible writing. Halfway down were the names they were there to look at.

They knew from experience that it was easier if they knelt in front of it, but Teddy's descent was a lot less delicate and measured than it should have been. He fell to his knees almost as if he collapsed, his tight hold on Victoire's waist bringing her body down to the ground with his. Their new position allowed them to be eye-level with two particular names etched into the stone: _Nymphadora and Remus Lupin_.

Teddy didn't cry every year.

There was never really any way to predict if his emotions would get the best of him, and after attending so many years of Remembrance Days together, Victoire stopped trying to do so.

This year his face was easy to read.

The desperation was as clear in his expression as it was in the rough grip of his hand on her hip. The longer they knelt there in front of the names of his deceased parents, the tighter his hold on her became. It took only a few moments before she could feel the dulled edges of his fingernails digging into the fabric covered flesh of her side.

The more despondent his expression became the closer he came to tears and the more constricted his embrace of her became. He went from steadily keeping her at his side to desperately clutching her to him.

At that point the tears had started to slowly flow down his cheeks and Victoire turned her body towards his so she could throw her arms around his shoulders and give him a tight embrace. At that moment she gave him all she had to offer.

"I love you."

He squeezed her tightly in response and even though he didn't repeat the words to her, she knew it was intended as such. She pulled away from him a little so that she could see his face better, and he turned to look at her.

"I really miss them."

Tears were still streaming down his cheeks and she nodded solemnly and spoke just as quietly as he had, "Of course you do."

His sapphire blue irises sparkled as more tears developed in the corners of his eyes, "I wish they could be here for the wedding."

Victoire leaned forward and pressed a kiss to his forehead instead of responding. Truthfully, she didn't want to respond. She was worried about what might come out of her mouth. The minute Teddy had uttered his wish a little voice inside her head had begun whispering words she really didn't want to contemplate at the moment, so she forced herself to ignore it and tried to focus on her fiancé instead.

Teddy went back to looking at the marble monument, but he seemed a little bit more at ease now that he'd gotten even a few of his feelings off his chest.

They spent a few more moments staring in silence at the monument before they were interrupted by a familiar voice calling out a name.

"Vic!"

She turned her head just in time to spot the incoming five-year-old projectile as he launched himself at her opposite side. Victoire swayed a little from the impact but managed to move her unencumbered arm –the one still clutching the thermos– to hold the younger boy to her so that he wouldn't fall backwards.

Victoire looked down in surprise at Brogan Wood, "Hello Bro. Did you sneak away from your parents?"

The little boy nodded his dirty-blonde head and then glanced at the person on the other side of Victoire, "Why's Teddy crying?"

Teddy glanced at Brogan with a watery smile, "I miss my parents."

Brogan frowned, let go of his hold on Victoire, and walked over to Teddy's other side so he could wrap his arms around Teddy's neck in a tight hug, "It's s'okay Teddy. I miss my parents too sometimes."

The little boy's serious words forced a strained chuckle out of Teddy. He patted the littlest Wood on the back of his head, "Thanks Bro."

"I can share them with you!" Brogan added cheerfully with a bright smile that made both the adults' hearts ache.

Instead of explaining to him why that wouldn't exactly work, Teddy just smiled at the boy and repeated, "Thanks Bro."

"Brogan?"

"Brogan?"

"Brogan!" A person whisper-yelled from behind the kneeling group. A few seconds later, Cecilia Wood came upon the group and an expression of relief slipped onto her face when she spotted her younger brother.

"There you are you little-" Cecilia stopped herself before she could call her five-year-old brother something not very nice in Gaelic, "Brogan you know better than to go running away from me or Mum and Dad. What were you thinking?"

Brogan pouted at his sister, "Teddy misses his parents. I said I can share mine."

Cecilia's expression softened and she gestured for her brother to come over to her, "That's very kind of you Brogan. But I think we should give Teddy and Victoire a little privacy now."

"What's privacy?" Brogan asked as he let go of Teddy and covered the short distance between them and his sister.

"Privacy is when somebody does something without you attached to them by the hip," Cecilia explained as she firmly grabbed her brother's hands and started to pull him away from the couple and the monument.

The pair of siblings hadn't gotten far enough away before Victoire and Teddy heard Brogan's reply to learning the definition of the new word his sister had just added to his vocabulary, "Why would someone want to do something without me?"

Once the Woods were gone from sight, Teddy looked back at the monument. The tears slowly stopped escaping his tear ducts, and the tracks on his face dried quickly. He turned to face Victoire once more. The hand on her hip stayed firmly in place while his free hand moved to her face so that he could stroke his thumb gently along her cheek.

"You're my family."

She nodded her head at his declaration, her eyes locking on his.

Teddy stroked her cheek once more and then his gaze dropped for a split-second down to her abdomen, "And we're going to create a new family together." His gaze moved back to hers, "Hopefully very soon."

Victoire swallowed, her throat suddenly thick with emotion, "We will. Very soon."

He pressed a kiss to the freckles on the bridge of her nose, "And until that time, I want you to know that I love you with all of my being."

"Ditto."

The pair slowly got to their feet and turned away from the monument. They only needed to walk a few metres before they happened upon another member of Teddy's chosen family. Malcolm Wood spotted Teddy and Victoire at almost the exact same time that Victoire spotted him, and he quickly closed the distance between them and pulled Teddy into a proper hug. The scene caused a small smile to play around the corners of her lips and pulled a little at her heartstrings.

Still standing where Malcolm had been earlier, Nadia watched the scene with –most likely hormone-induced– tears streaming from her eyes. The Italian woman gradually made her way to stand beside Victoire as the two men spoke in quiet whispers to each other.

"He really is a decent guy," Nadia said in almost a sigh as she came to a stop next to Victoire.

The blonde woman nodded, "There are worse people out there you could have gotten knocked up by."

Nadia rolled her eyes, the tears having stopped a few moments before, "The idea of being pregnant and becoming parents still scares the _puttanata_ out of me most of the time . . . but there are a few times when I look at Malcolm and think that we can do this."

"And this is one of those times?" Victoire queried. She blinked a little as a cloud in the sky above her drifted away from the sun, causing the sun's harsh rays to shine in her eyes.

Nadia smiled softly as she watched her boyfriend comfort his best mate, "Yeah."

The males broke up a few moments later and moved back towards their respective partners. Malcolm was hesitant as he wrapped an arm around Nadia's waist, knowing with her new mood swings that laying his hand on the wrong part of her body could get him cursed –both verbally and magically. Teddy on the other hand pulled Victoire tight against him as he had earlier and placed his hand firmly on her hip once more.

Malcolm began to talk to them about his intended outline for the article he was writing about that year's ceremony, and Victoire's mind wandered as she focused mostly on the still pounding pain in her head. In between the almost rhythmic vibrations of her headache, a small part of Victoire's mind began to wander and thoughts that she'd been trying to hold back since very early that morning were starting to break through her mental block. After a few moments of only half-listening to Malcolm's familiar brogue, Victoire became aware of the slow twisting of her stomach that quickly sped up to a fast churn. She could almost taste her own stomach acid at the back of her throat, and her mouth began to fill up with saliva.

Victoire pulled away from Teddy's embrace and met his confused expression with an explanation of, "Need to use the loo."

He recognized that there was something more to her words and questioned, "Are you okay?"

"Just drank too much tea," Victoire tried to assure him as she held up the empty thermos she was still holding.

His hold on her loosened and she slipped away and paced quickly towards the castle.

Just inside the doors to the castle, there was a bit of a lineup outside the ladies bathroom that was closest to the Great Hall. Victoire walked past that bathroom and continue down the corridors a bit until she found the next closest bathroom that was thankfully empty. She just made it into the first stall when she began vomiting. Since the only thing she'd had in her stomach was the tea Colton had brought her, liquid was the only thing that came back up. Her vomiting didn't last long, but when she finished she caught sight of what was in the loo bowl just before flushing it away.

"Fuck."

Victoire felt her headache increase as she thought about what she saw in the toilet bowl. There was blood. A good few tablespoons of it.

"This is the last thing I need right now," Victoire muttered to herself as she left the stall and went to the sink to wash up.

After cleaning up she left the bathroom as quickly as was possible and, she was so busy pondering what exactly had just happened, that in her haste she rounded a corner without paying much attention and bumped into someone. It wasn't a harsh crash, so Victoire wasn't in danger of falling over completely. She automatically started apologizing to the person she bumped into before she even looked at them.

"Godric I'm sorry about-" Victoire's apology stopped in its' tracks when she finally looked at the man she'd rammed into, "Adam."

Victoire thought that the universe had a sick sense of humour having arranged for her to run into someone twice in one week that she had previously gone over five years without seeing.

In front of her Adam Westcott shifted uncomfortably on his feet as he made eye-contact with her, "Victoire . . . _um_ . . . sorry about that. You alright?"

"Don't worry," Victoire told him as she pretended to brush fake dust off her shoulder, "That physical altercation is nothing compared to the mental and emotional damage you'vepreviously inflicted upon me."

Her words were sharp, biting, and resentful, just as she intended them to be.

Adam Westcott rolled his eyes at her, "And here we go. Have we already hit that portion of the conversation where you blame your ex-boyfriend for all of your own failings?"

"_Va te faire enculer_," She swore at him in French, "Don't you dare put this all back on me after everything you did to me."

He put his hands on his hips, "What I did to you? We broke up before I did anything to you. You're only pissy now because Lupin let it slip that I was just having some guy talk with my mates."

"Bragging about how you'd still be able to get me to shag you even after you broke my heart is _not _just simple guy talk," She argued, her face going red and her head starting to ache even more.

Adam rolled his eyes at her once more, "Don't pretend that that was the first time you overheard a bloke talking about how much they'd like to shag you."

"_That's_ not the point," Victoire said through gritted teeth, "That's not even why I'm so mad at you. I only found out about _that_ two days ago. No, I'm mad at you because my relationship with you led to the creation of a convoluted mental complex that I still can't get past to this day!"

At this point Adam had the decency to drop his self-righteous stance and look confused from her words, "What in the world are you talking about?"

She pointed her finger at him severely, "Your mother took one look at me, said that I couldn't be anything more than a loose slag that would break your heart, and because she decided she didn't like me you broke up with me. I was fifteen and I thought I was in love with you and you dumped me because you mother didn't like me. Do you have any idea what something like that can do to a person? I was young and, despite my genetics, I was still very self-conscious. Even though I didn't do anything wrong you made me feel as though I wasn't good enough."

He didn't say anything, and she was on a roll so she continued, "I wasn't good enough for your mother because she thought I was a slut, and I wasn't good enough for you because I was actually the opposite of what you allowed her to believe. After that every time I interacted with any guy I fancied there was a little voice in the back of my head that would creep in and say 'but what would his parents think of you?' 'will you be able to convince them that you're good enough?'. It didn't matter if I was even dating the bloke or not, those thoughts were there. They would worm their way into my head and stay there; feeding my anxiety until just the thought of meeting some bloke's parents would freeze me in place from the sheer anxiety and panic of it all. And the worst part is that even though it is all in my _bloody _head I couldn't make it stop!"

Her stomach began to burn, but she was pretty sure that the cause of it this time was the fact that she had to tell Adam Westcott of all people about one of her deepest darkest secrets.

"Well aren't you lucky then that your chosen fiancé doesn't have any parents for you to meet."

The words were barely out of Adam's mouth before his eyes went wide and the expression on face said that he immediately regretted the words he'd just uttered, he tried to back track right away, "_Shit_. I didn't mean-"

She ignored his rushed apology.

She didn't want to hear it.

She wasn't the one who deserved to hear his apology this time. Not when she was guilty of sometimes thinking almost the exact same words he had put voice to.

She turned her gaze away from him, "We're done here Adam."

The corridor they were presently standing in was a T-shape, she turned her back on Adam and intended to leave via the opposite side of the hall. She only made it a few feet before she looked up and realized that they'd had an audience for at least part of their conversation.

Standing in the middle of the other end of the hallway was Andromeda Tonks. The sight of Teddy's grandmother combined with the recent memory of the words she'd shared with Adam made her stomach roil and attempt to climb back up her throat.

Victoire spun around once more and sprinted to the bathroom she had previously vacated. Once in a stall she vomited for the third time that day, only this time there was nothing left to expel except for stomach bile and blood. It took a few moments to turn her panting gasps into proper deep breaths, and once she flushed the toilet she left the stall to wash her hands and rinse her mouth out.

Unsurprisingly, Andromeda was standing near the sinks when Victoire exited the stall.

"Are you feeling alright?" Andromeda asked the younger woman in a concerned tone.

Victoire sighed and washed her hands under the tap, "It's just stress."

Andromeda nodded understandingly and idly watched Victoire as she cleaned up, "And about what I just overheard in the hallway?"

Victoire finished at the sink and then turned to face Andromeda. Both women measured each other with their eyes and Victoire was vividly reminded that the reason why Andromeda had been sorted into Slytherin when she'd been at school had nothing to do with her blood status.

"How much did you overhear?"

"I believe I walked in at the part where you were explaining _why_ you were actually angry with that young man," Andromeda replied succinctly.

Victoire pursed her lips, "_Ah_."

"I don't think your acquaintance quite understood what you were telling him," Andromeda added.

The younger woman started nervously tapping her foot on the floor, "But you did?"

"I believe I did," Her fiancé's grandmother replied with a prim nod.

There was a stalemate between the two women, and even though Victoire knew that the only way to keep the upper hand was to stay quiet, she couldn't handle the silence.

"That's not the reason why I started dating Teddy," she blurted out before she could stop herself.

A perfectly shaped eyebrow rose up on Andromeda's forehead and even though Victoire's words themselves didn't have much of a sequitur, the older woman seemed to understand what the younger was saying, "I know that you didn't start dating Teddy just because he didn't have parents that you would have to interact with."

Victoire nodded her head despite the fact that the action made her ever-present headache worse, "Good." Her words sounded shaky and she could feel tears starting to swell in her eyes.

"Merdre," She swore as blood starting pounding through her head and her heart-rate started to race.

The traitorous little voice in her mind that she'd been trying to ignore since she and Teddy had stood in front of the monument earlier, broke through her mental block and began to mix in with the memory of Adam's voice as he accused her of being lucky because she wouldn't have to deal with the anxiety over meeting Teddy's parents because they were dead.

She brought her hand up to her head and started to rub at the areas of her skull where her head was aching and where the voices were originating from. As the thoughts continued to circle around her brain and refused to abate, Victoire felt her breathing begin to turn towards the hyperventilation side of the spectrum. As her breathing became shallower, her fingers started to push harder and sink deeper into her skin.

Andromeda looked at Victoire worriedly as the younger woman dug her fingernails deeper into the skin around her skull. It looked hard enough to draw blood.

"Victoire."

Victoire looked at her, and Andromeda caught her gaze and held it, "Take a deep breath Dear."

The younger woman followed her advice and started taking deep breaths to calm herself.

"Good, now move your hand."

Victoire did as she asked and was surprised to find her own skin and some blood under her fingernails. She glanced at the mirror and saw the shallow impressions her nails had imbedded in her forehead and near her temples, along with the blood they'd drawn. The pain from digging her own fingers into her head was nothing compared to the pain radiating from within her own skull, so it was nothing for her to wave her hand and make the small cuts and blood disappear.

Andromeda looked sadly at Victoire. She seemed like she wanted to say something else on the topic they had so far been mostly dancing around, but instead she just said, "You look like you need a good rest."

Victoire nodded and without really thinking about it she and Andromeda turned and left the washroom. They were silent as they walked down the corridors and back out to the grounds where there were still a lot of people milling about. After assuring Andromeda that she could find Teddy on her own, the two parted ways and Victoire stumbled around the grounds looking for her fiancé and trying to shield her eyes from the sunlight.

When she found him, Teddy was surrounded by her parents and her Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny. She sidled up to her fiancé and intended to passively enter the conversation. Regrettably, the previous conversation stopped with her addition because her mother wanted to wish her a happy birthday. Victoire knew from experience that trying to avoid her mother's wishes on her birthday was futile, so instead she just accepted the words and tried to modulate her mother's volume so no one else outside of their circle could hear her.

Knowing that speaking about her birthday during the ceremony made her feel uncomfortable, her father tried to change the subject of conversation. Ginny jumped on it and the discussion turned away from Victoire specifically and went in another direction. As the older adults talked, Teddy looked down at his fiancée and frowned.

He whispered in her ear, "Headache still bothering you?"

The first expression on her face was one of surprise, but it quickly changed as she realized that Teddy knew her well enough to tell that she'd been battling a headache for most of the day.

"Yeah. I could really use something stronger than just caffeine," She replied softly.

Teddy nodded in understanding and then he very politely made their excuses to her parents and his godparents, citing Victoire's obvious tiredness from her night shift as their main justification. They'd only made it a few steps away from her parents when Victoire realized that she was somehow still holding onto the thermos Colton had handed her a few hours ago. She told Teddy that she needed to give it back to Colton and Anastasia, so on their way out they made a point to look for the couple.

Victoire spotted the pair first; standing in a loose group with Ally and Xavier, Sandra and Kyle, and her sister Dom. After walking up to the group Victoire directly addressed Colton.

"Thanks for the tea," She told him as she handed him the empty thermos.

Colton shrugged as he accepted the canister, "Don't mention it. Just consider it a birthday gift."

Victoire froze.

Ally heard the comment and chuckled as she turned to Colton, "That's quite an early birthday present. Vic's birthday isn't until July."

Colton frowned at her, "No . . . Victoire's birthday is today. I had access to her official birth certificate while I was working on her will."

"No it's not," Ally retorted, she glanced at her cousin, "Tell him Vic."

Victoire struggled to reply right away, which made Ally more suspicious and slightly agitated.

"Tell him Victoire," The dark haired cousin repeated.

Victoire sighed heavily and rubbed her forehead above her left eyebrow, "Ally I–my-"

Her hard stare was disconcerting. Victoire couldn't make eye contact with her as she admitted, "My birthday_ is_ today."

Ally's mouth fell open in shock, Sandra gasped audibly, Xavier and Kyle both looked as though they'd been hit over the head with a beater's bat, Colton looked apologetic, and Dom swore loudly in French.

Victoire rubbed her aching head once more and replied to Dom in English, "Yes I'm serious Dominique."

"Your birthday is today," Ally repeated in a slightly robotic tone, "You're turning twenty-four _today_?"

"Yes, I was born twenty-four years ago today," Victoire affirmed self-consciously.

Victoire was certain that Ally was about to yell at her or berate her for lying to her about her birthday for pretty much their entire lives, but in a surprise turn of events Ally turned her angry façade towards Xavier instead.

"How could you not realize this was going on? You're older than she is!"

Xavier gave his fiancée a startled look, "By six months –no. I guess I'm actually only older by four months . . ."

"Ally please don't get angry at Xavier, or even Dom or Louis. The only person here who knew about my birthday is Teddy. Obviously all of our aunts and uncles know, but they've respected my choice and agreed not to tell any of you about the switch," Victoire explained in a calm tone, thinking that Ally was starting to wind down in her anger.

Her supposition was incorrect at best.

Ally absorbed the information Victoire had told her and levelled one of the angriest glares that Victoire had ever seen on her face directly at her, "So what the hell is going on Victoire? You've just been lying to me–to _everyone_– about your birthday for the past twenty-four years of your life?"

"It's only actually been about twenty years," Victoire found her mouth saying the words before her brain could stop her.

"Twenty years! So you started lying to me when you were four then?"

"Well you're obviously in good company Ally because Victoire's been lying about her birthday to her own siblings for their entire lives!" Dom added, her eyes looking as fiery as her hair in that moment.

Victoire rubbed harder against her forehead; her headache turning into a head throb, "Look guys, I know I need to talk about this with you and apologize but right now I'm just-"

She was too tired to finish the sentence, so Teddy finished it for her, "Victoire's completely wiped from her night shift and we're going home now so she can get some rest."

"But-"

"We'll see all of you later," Teddy replied firmly as he put his hands on Victoire's shoulders and directed her away.

It was a testament to how poorly Victoire felt that she didn't have the energy nor the inclination to argue with Teddy about leaving, or even to beg her friends and sister for forgiveness after lying to them for over a decade. He escorted her off Hogwarts grounds, and when they were finally in an area where they could apparate from, they disapparated away.

Victoire ran into their flat in record time and made a beeline for their bathroom, where she threw up for the fourth time that day. This time the only thing that came back up were spit and blood. She flushed the toilet just before Teddy entered the bathroom.

"Vic are you alright?"

She glanced up at his worried face and slowly shook her head from side-to-side, "I think I have an ulcer."

Teddy let out a low exhale and settled himself down on the floor next to Victoire where she was still kneeling next to the toilet. He placed his hand on her knee, "Is it as bad as it was last time?"

The last, and only other, time that Victoire had an ulcer happened when he was away working a case in Peru. He hadn't been around to see with his own eyes how poorly she felt the first time she dealt with one, but he'd heard enough stories about it to know that it wasn't exactly the best time in her life.

"I don't think it's gotten that bad yet. I'm not vomiting nearly as much blood as I did last time," She told him honestly.

"Godric that doesn't instill much confidence," He complained as he leaned his head back against the wall. Even though he'd gotten a full eight hours of sleep the night before he also looked very tired.

Victoire rested her head on his shoulder, "I won't even need a prescription. An over the counter medication from the apothecary should handle it."

She made to get up but he pulled her back down to the floor, "You're not going anywhere right now. You need to sleep. I'll go get you some meds and you can take your first dose when you wake up."

"I'm not going to be able to sleep knowing that Ally and everyone else are angry at me right this moment," Victoire protested.

Teddy sighed, waved his hand, and a bottle flew out of one of their bathroom cupboards. He caught it and then handed it to her without a word.

Victoire glanced at the name on the label, "A sleeping potion? You know I can't take this. The side effects would-"

"Look at the dose," He instructed.

She glanced back down at the label and muttered to herself as she read both the dosage and, to her surprise, her own name written on the bottle, "Who wrote a prescription for _me_ and gave it to _you_?"

"Read the label on the back."

She turned the bottle around and her eyes narrowed angrily at the name of the healer printed on the bottle that indicated who had prescribed it, "I'm going to murder him the next time I'm at work."

"You'll be able to do that much better if you get some sleep," Teddy cajoled as he tapped his finger on the cap of the prescription bottle.

Victoire glanced back down at the bottle, "So I take the proper dosage of this, and while I'm sleeping you'll go to the apothecary and get me a potion for my ulcer?"

"Yes," Teddy assured her as he helped her to her feet.

She set the potion bottle on her nightstand in their bedroom and then slowly started to take her clothes off. She'd just stripped off her dress and her nylons when a new thought came to her.

"You had something vastly different from this planned for my birthday, didn't you?" She asked her fiancé with a frown.

He nodded and tossed her one of his t-shirts, already guessing that she'd want to wear it to sleep in, "On the outside it looks rather different from what I had planned . . . but I guess the end result will be the same."

Victoire slipped his t-shirt over her head and took a deep breath so that she could breathe in his scent that was still lingering on the fabric, "And how is the end result the same?"

"The day will end with you and I sleeping next to each other in the same bed," Teddy told her with a smirk as he pressed a kiss to her forehead.

She turned her head to press her lips against his, "You're easy to please."

"I'd be even happier if you finally take a dose of that sleeping potion that your friend put their life on the line to prescribe for you," He admitted.

"Because that doesn't sound the least bit creepy," Victoire retorted with a raised eyebrow.

Teddy kissed her lips softly, "Get some rest. I'll go get you those meds."

"And some chocolate?" She asked as he pulled away.

"Only if you're asleep well and good when I get back."

Victoire teasingly saluted him and said 'yes sir' before she cracked open the bottle of prescription sleeping potion and measured out the correct dosage based on the healer's suggestion on the label. He watched her closely as she drank the liquid, and once he was sure that she finished swallowing it he pressed another kiss to her forehead before tucking her into their bed and turning off the light.

* * *

**A/N:** Alright, so one of the reasons why it took so long to write this chapter was because I wanted to get the next chapter finished so that I could post them in consecutive weeks because the energy of both really feed off each other, but like everything in life right now it didn't really go to plan.

I hope that you guys enjoy this chapter regardless, and please let me know what you thought of it.

**Next Update:** I honestly can't say right now. As of last week I started back at work, but because I presently work with children our new normal is so different than before that it'll take some time to adjust, and I really don't know what will be happening after the next two months. Although I doubt I'm the only one in this boat right now.

**Next Chapter:** Will continue to explore some of these new themes and we'll see further fallout of some actions from this chapter. Also, Vic and Cassidy help Teddy and Jilly train their trainees on magical first aid.

I want to thank everyone who has followed, favourited, read, and especially reviewed!

BIG thank yous to everyone who has stayed with me and this story, and VERY BIG thank yous to:

**RebekahGrace, Guest (1), Manydifferentfandoms, Emely, carbo21, Guest (2), Saagarika, ntlpurpolia, Jily71102, audrey3horses, Break This Spell626, NicoleTheSmith, Runaway Renegades, hexay29223, princess midnight16, Guest (3), rosesnlilies, Guest (4), Ginevra Hope, Guest (5), **and **KMon**.

Manydifferentfandoms: So good to hear from you again! It's so crazy to think that you've been on this crazy ride with me for so long. I love hearing from you and I appreciate the time it takes you to review.

**Break This Spell626:** I guess she doesn't actually get through everything she does without running herself down.

**Ginevra Hope:** Vic saying 99 theses was a play on Martin Luther's 95, the joke is that Vic has even more reasons why she dislikes Austin than Martin Luther had critiques about the entire Catholic Church.

**KMon:** Never apologize for long reviews, I love long reviews. A different reader suggested Jelene as James/Selene's ship name, and my anglophone head is pronouncing it like Je(hard E)-lene and I don't think it sounds too bad. But its up to you guys ;)

**I hope this chapter entertained everyone for at least a little bit, I know the world is still going crazy, but even though a lot of bad things are happening I know that a lot of people are also trying hard to cope and to make good things come out of them (both big and small) so I want to thank everyone who is stepping up to the plate to help others and to get things done :)**

**If you have any questions or comments let me know in a review or PM,**

**Again I hope you enjoyed this chapter,**

**Please do your best to stay safe and healthy during this time,**

**And until next time DFTBA!**


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